Slither
by reno-xxxXXXxxx
Summary: SEQUEL TO LITHIUM - When Rude is pulled forwards for a new job, he gets the feeling that the man he is working with is a lot deeper than he seems. RenoXElena eventually. Rated T for swearing, self-abuse and drugs. Chapter 14
1. Wondering

**A/N: **Yes!! I finally get to start Slither! I've been looking forward to it so much. Oookay, so in case ya don't know, this is the first chapter of a sequel to my story Lithium. I left that story on such a cliffhanger, I know. But whatever, this is set about a month and half after Lithium, and it's also from Rude's point of view (don't forget!)

I decided to put some more new recruits in as well, as you'll see further through the chapter. Everything that happened at the end of Lithium, with Reno and Carrie, hasn't been forgotten, so don't worry about that. Also, I decided to actually introduce Commander Veld in this story, because it makes more sense. I will justify the delayed intro later!

Also, some parts of this story are inspired by a great story called 'Stability' by NarcissisticRiceball(sp?). I have her permission to use her ideas, so don't flame me later on!

I think that's all, hope you enjoy the first chapter! Please review!!

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Chapter 1**

The cold, dry wind blew steadily down the various alleyways of the dark and dismal slums. The large, suit-clad man paced down one of them, his sharp footsteps echoing through the emptiness. There was no one around.

The man took a PHS out of his pocket as it began ringing quietly. He pushed a button and held the device to his ear.

"Rude, status?" came a stern, yet calm voice down the line.

"All clear, Tseng, sir." Rude said to his superior calmly.

"Alright. Head back for today then." The line clicked and went dead, and Rude put the PHS back into his pocket, and carried on walking, exiting the alleyway, and entering the more open air. The Sector 8 slums were never a good place to work, but he would do as he was told.

Rude was never quite sure when it was actually dark in the slums, and when it was light, but as he approached the Shin-Ra building, he was pretty sure it was getting late. He had lost count of the amount of days he had spent patrolling the Sector 8 slums; he was usually a patient person, but the work was starting to irritate him slightly. He had already been delayed in starting his job in the first place, something about a mess-up caused by another employee, and things still hadn't smoothed over yet apparently. He hadn't been told why he hadn't actually started his proper missions yet, but Tseng had mentioned something about a still-pending mission that was currently going on. Apart from that, Rude was left completely in the dark.

Still, no doubt some light would be shed on the situation soon. Rude pondered on this as he entered the Shin-Ra building, only to run directly into Tseng.

"Ah, Rude. You're back." He said fairly contently. "No trouble?"

"No, sir." Rude should his head.

"Good… good." Tseng seemed distracted. "Ah, before I forget." He held up a keychain, from which two small keys hung off; a silver one and a brass one. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to move into your new apartment for a while, but change of plan."

Rude nodded, recalling Tseng's point. When he had first started the job, his boss had mentioned apartments that the Turks had to stay in. The bald Turk had been told he couldn't move in yet, but as with everything else, he didn't know why.

"You can move in tonight if you want, or you can go back home and move tomorrow." Tseng handed the key to Rude, who took it and pocketed it. "When will you move, do you think?"

"Thanks. I'll probably move tonight, sir." Rude said quietly. It wasn't too late; probably about half past 8.

"Okay…" Tseng looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think it would be a good idea for me to take you over there, and I can explain a few things to you on the way."

"Yes, sir." Rude nodded and began to walk alongside Tseng. He knew the Turks apartments were somewhere outside the Shin-Ra building, but he wasn't sure where, so he was quite glad that Tseng was going to come with him. That and the fact that he was pretty desperate to know what was going on.

"Okay…" Tseng said as they stepped outside. It was still cold, but the wind had died down slightly to a fairly refreshing breeze. "Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the lack of work you've been brought into. I know it's inconvenient and probably quite tedious for you…" the raven-haired man paused and looked at Rude, as though expecting him to say something, but the bald Turk stayed silent. "… the last Turk we employed, your partner, has caused us some… problems." Tseng continued. "He wasn't brought in the same way you were, or the other new recruits that will be starting soon… a problem occurred; a kind of grudge between him and one of his old acquaintances. You may have heard about the large amount of mako theft that's been going on?"

Tseng looked at Rude again as they walked, turning a corner to enter an alleyway. The bald Turk nodded. "Yes, sir. I heard."

"We're not sure whether it's connected, but there were also some papers stolen regarding the reactor in Junon." Rude looked across at his superior; he had a grim expression on his face. "That's where you're partner is now… not in Junon, though. He's trying to find out whether the two incidents are connected, or whether they have anything to with a grudge some slum-dwellers have against him…"

Tseng paused a moment as they reached a large building. Rude looked up, taking the building to be a regular block of apartments; there were only a few windows lit up. The bald Turk watched as Tseng took the silver key and unlocked the door, opening it for Rude to enter. Rude did so and waited while Tseng locked the door back up again behind them.

"Unfortunately…" Tseng said as they began to walk up a set of stairs. "Things didn't go as planned."

Rude's superior seemed reluctant to carry the story on, but the larger Turk stayed silent, waiting patiently for Tseng to continue as they made their way up the stairs. After one flight of stairs, Tseng stopped outside a large, walnut door. Tseng took the brass key this time and unlocked the door. This time, the dark-haired man entered first, flicking a light-switch on as he did so. Rude entered after, closing the door behind him, and followed Tseng into a large living room. It was quite spacious, but there was a strange scent lingering in the air, like the one that resides in a derelict building; no one had been living there recently.

"Your partner returned last week after losing contact with us for over a month. Unfortunately, he didn't get anywhere, so he has returned to continue his work." Tseng shook his head and his gaze was cast over the various objects in the living room. "Something happened to him… but I don't know what yet."

"What?" Rude couldn't help himself; he was genuinely interested, but he was slightly confused about what Tseng was saying.

"When he came back last week, he met Commander Veld for the first time since he came here. I never bothered before because I thought he would be killed within the first few days. Something about him was a little off, and when I suggested introducing him to you, he said he had to hurry, and disappeared. I haven't heard from him since."

"I see." Rude said, as he nodded. It was slightly unnerving to hear that his partner was reluctant to meet him. The bald Turk had heard nothing about his partner, and he didn't even know his name, but he didn't want to get on anyone's wrong side before he even met them.

"Don't take it personally, Rude." Tseng said as though reading Rude's mind. "You will see for yourself soon enough… hopefully, but I think you and your partner will get along fine."

"Okay." Rude said. He still wasn't sure, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.

"Now, I mentioned other new recruits, I believe?" Tseng looked at Rude and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir."

"There will be two more Turk that will be joining us soon; Sharon and Benjamin. They, like you have been to the academy, but advanced so much I've decided to bring them in now. You three will be working together to begin with. We can't wait for your partner forever, but as soon as he returns, you will be working with him. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Rude said again. He vaguely hoped that these other two recruits wouldn't be too irritating.

"Okay… I'll leave you here tonight. Report to my office at 0700 hours tomorrow, you will meet Commander Veld, okay?" Tseng made to leave, but turned just before he reached the door. "Oh, and that room-" he pointed to the closed door opposite the walnut front door. "-That is your partner's. The other one next door is yours. Ignore any junk that's lying around. Okay."

"Yes, sir. Thank you." Rude said quietly, as Tseng opened the front door and closed it subtly behind him, leaving Rude alone.

The bald Turk looked vaguely around the apartment. It looked comfortable enough, with an open-plan kitchen and living room, but there was an air of angst about the place that Rude didn't like. He had the feeling that when his partner had left for his mission, it had been grudgingly.

Rude was desperate to know for about his partner though; after all, it was human instinct to want to know more about the man he was going to have to work with for the rest of his life, however long that might be.

Despite the small voice in the back of his head that was telling him not to, Rude stepped over to his partner's bedroom door and opened it slowly. He just wanted a quick look; just to get an idea of what he was dealing with.

What shocked him most was the mess in the room, but although there were things all over the floor, everything that was important seemed to be in an appropriate place. There was a suit hanging on the handle to cupboard high up on the wall; the wrinkles in it told Rude it had been worn. It looked quite small width-ways, and Rude took his partner to be a little shorter than he was, but a lot less intimidating. Lying on an unmade bed, there was a PHS, similar to Rude's; a pair of black goggles; and a long, silver stick Rude recognized as an electro-magnetic rod. It seemed odd to Rude that his partner would leave such objects behind on such an important mission. Still pondering on this, the bald Turk left the room and closed the door.

Rude sat quietly down on the couch in the living room, still thinking about his partner. He knew it was wrong for him to be concerned for someone he didn't know, especially as a Turk, but he couldn't help but wonder where his partner was spending the night, and what had happened to him to make him act so apparently oddly toward Tseng and Commander Veld.

These thoughts were still on his mind when the time reached 9:50, and Rude decided to surrender and go to bed. He felt slightly uncomfortable staying in a place in which none of his possessions were, but he would get his belongings as soon as he had the opportunity. He went into his bedroom, which was similar to his partners, took his shoes, suit trousers, jacket and shirt off and slipped between the sheets of the bed, feeling slightly cold. He stared out of the window through the basically transparent curtains, looking at the various streetlamps outside. His thoughts kept wondering back to his partner, and what was to come until he drifted off into a shallow and disturbed sleep.

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**A/N: **And there ya go! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'll try and make the other OC recruits have a part in the story more than I have done in some of my other stories (and I know I suck at names.) Please review, and let me know anything I can do to improve, bits you liked, hated, or just to tell me you enjoyed the chapter. I don't mind getting repetitive reviews, because I know people are enjoying it, but if you have anything helpful, please share. Also, I'm not sure how long it'll be before I update any story, including this one, because I'm pretty sick at the moment. I'm going into hospital on Tuesday for a scan, and hopefully it'll all come up clear, but if not, I might not be around for a little while. I'll try and update as soon as possible though!!


	2. The Rookies

**A/N: **'Tis the second chapter! I got this out quicker than I thought I would, and it's also pretty long! I did the whole thing in one day, because there's been too much snow for me to go to school. There's not a lot of stuff happening in this chapter, just a lot of information.

Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 2 **

Strange dreams about dark alleyways and people chasing him weren't very conductive of a good night's sleep, Rude decided as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Despite his blurry eyes, he looked at his watch, and could just make out that the time was just past 6:30 am. He didn't have any form of clock in the room, so it took the bald Turk a few moments to work out what had woke him up. His question was answered however when he heard a loud ringing noise coming from the next room.

Sighing slightly, Rude slipped out from under his covers and made his way to his partner's room. He pushed open the door and stepped over to the bed, on which his partners PHS lay, ringing obnoxiously. Rude ran a hand over his head and stepped over to look briefly at the screen. He didn't want to pry in his partner's business, so he just pressed the cancel button and left it at that. Without the loud ringing, the house was strangely quiet, but Rude ignored it as he went back into his room to get dressed.

By the time he was washed and dressed, Rude made the time at 6:45. He made his way into the kitchen to see what food was already in, and opened a cupboard grudgingly. Upon searching the kitchen, there didn't seem to be much there. He wondered vaguely whether his partner just didn't eat much, or if he just lived on take-outs or something. Not that there was much to chose from, the bald Turk settled on toast, just to be safe.

By the time Rude left his apartment is was exactly 7 minutes to 7. He would've preferred to be early to meet Commander Veld, but he guessed at least he would be there on time, which is better than being late. He left his apartment, locking the door behind him, and began to make his way back towards the Shin-Ra building.

Upon entering headquarters, the building seemed strangely empty. He wasn't sure what time any other regular employees of Shin-Ra started work, but he cast his thoughts aside as he made his way to Tseng's office. Breathing deeply, he knocked on his superior's door.

"Enter." came a curt reply.

Rude did as he was instructed and opened the office door before stepping inside.

"Ah, Rude. Just on time." Tseng smiled and stood up. "Sleep okay?"

"Yes, thank you, sir." Rude nodded his head and looked the raven-haired man who was making his way around his desk.

"We will be meeting Commander Veld in the training room, as well as the new recruits; Sharon and Benjamin." Tseng explained, stepping past Rude to hold his office door open. "They will probably already be over there. Let's go."

Rude nodded and he and his superior left the office and made their way over to the elevator. Tseng pushed the 'up' button and put his hand on his chin thoughtfully while he waited. Rude was slightly curious as to what was on the other man's mind, but he wasn't really the type to ask. There was a sharp ringing noise and the elevator door opened, allowing the two Turks to step inside. Tseng hit a button with some force, and the door closed.

"Rude… just a warning." Tseng said suddenly. "These two other recruits; they've been through the academy… they may have been below you, but they are older. Both of them can be very… proud of the fact that they excelled the academy."

Rude nodded as he felt the familiar pulling sensation in his stomach as the elevator began to ascend. "Yes, sir." He said quietly.

"...and another warning. If only for a while, things with the new recruits will get sticky when your partner eventually returns."

"Hm?" Rude looked at his superior with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll see when you meet him." Tseng smiled grimly as there was another ringing noise and the elevator door opened again. The black-haired man led the way out, and Rude followed him down several corridors until they got to a large, brightly lit room. The place was lined with various exercising equipment, and in the centre, there was a large empty area, lined with mats. Rude assumed this was for sparring.

"Commander Veld, sir." Tseng saluted before Rude even had the chance to register the people in front of him. Rude followed suit and raised his hand in a polite salute, then glanced at the others present in the room.

The first person that caught Rude's attention was the tallest of the three present. The bald Turk assumed this was Commander Veld from his proper stature and mature appearance. The man had medium length brown hair, and dark understanding eyes. Rude found himself instantly respecting the man, possibly because of his kind composure. The other two people in the room Rude took to be the other two recruits. The female one, Sharon, had chin-length blonde hair, which was poker-straight; and icy blue eyes. Her figure was slightly intimidating; she was fairly short, but she had a stocky built and was seemed to be a natural aggressive expression. The male Turk, Benjamin, had a much more friendly face, with dark green eyes, framed by jet-black hair. He was taller than Sharon, but not as tall as Rude, and he was of average build. He smiled at Rude, who nodded his head in return.

"Good morning, Tseng." Commander Veld said politely. "And good morning… you are Rude, I assume?"

"Yes, sir." Rude nodded.

"Very good." Veld looked at Rude and motioned to the other two. Rude took the hint, and went and stood next to the other recruits. "You three are lucky. We usually have a lot more recruits at one time than this, so you'll get more attention than usual."

Rude smiled slightly, and stood tall with Sharon and Benjamin. Veld paced up and down the line several times, while Tseng stood in silence behind him. The Commander stopped walking abruptly and took a deep breath, before beginning to talk.

"I brought all three of you here today to personally welcome you into the Shin-Ra company, and more specifically, the Turks." Veld said calmly. "But as you all know, this job is never considered a nice one. I would like to think that you chose to join because you wanted to though…" He paused and looked across the three of them before continuing. "You have all done well to pass through the academy, but I shall warn you know; being a Turk is nothing like you can imagine. The only way to become a good Turk is through experience. But of course, there are special requirements that nobody necessarily has when they first join. This is why so many people end up killed." Veld stopped talking again, as his dark eyes scanned the room. He looked much more serious than he had done previously, and the atmosphere was extremely tense. "Talking of murder… it's easy enough. But when you're actually there, holding the gun, it's a different story."

Veld appeared like he was finished the serious talk, as he loosened his stature and smiled. "But… I guess you'll all find this out for yourselves soon enough."

"Would you like me to sort out their information, sir?" Tseng asked, stepping forward.

"Please." Veld nodded and handed a clipboard to Tseng.

"Right…" Tseng looked across the information on the clipboard. "First… Sharon. It says here you use a gun, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." Sharon spoke for the first time in a piercing voice that made Rude cringe slightly. "I can also use restorative materia."

"Ahh… okay…" Tseng jotted something down on his clipboard, and then turned to Benjamin. The black-haired rookie stood to attention immediately. "Benjamin… you only use materia?"

"Yes, sir." Benjamin confirmed. Just like Rude had thought, his voice was soft and friendly. "Bolt, Fire, and Ice. I haven't mastered any of them… but I'm not too bad."

"Okay…" Tseng checked on his clipboard once again. "Any other specialities?"

"Well…" Benjamin looked slightly sheepish. "I'm not _too _bad as a fist-fighter."

"Ahh." Tseng looked surprised and smiled. "Good... now last but not least, Rude. You are a fist-figher as well, correct? But specifically it says here…"

"Yes, sir." Rude nodded.

"And also fire materia?"

"Yes, sir." The bald Turk repeated.

"Very good… well that was quick." Tseng handed the clipboard back to Veld who took it gratefully. The raven-haired man in front of Rude looked thoughtful for a moment, and then began talking again. "Now about partners. As you all know from academy, all Turks are assigned partners. Rude has already been assigned his partner, and so Sharon and Benjamin will work together, is that okay?"

"Yes, sir." Sharon and Benjamin said simultaneously, the latter slightly less enthusiastic.

"Good. It will remain that way then… unless a problem occurs on Rude's part." Tseng nodded at Rude, who remained motionless. "All three of you are dismissed for the day to do whatever you want. I know you might want to move your belongings into your new apartments."

"Yes, sir." Three voices echoes through the room.

"All three of you will meet Tseng in here at 0800 hours tomorrow morning." Commander Veld added. The two most superior Turks nodded, and then left the training room, leaving the three rookies alone.

"Exciting, isn't it?" Sharon said shrilly as soon as the other two had left. Benjamin nodded and Rude merely shrugged his shoulders. "You're not very talkative, are you?" She said, slightly more put-out.

"Well, I really don't find it exciting that I'm automatically paired with you…" Benjamin glared at the icy-haired woman. "But it looks like the big guy here has other things on his mind."

Rude was slightly shocked at the direct reference to himself, and stared at the other two. Sharon looked at him concernedly.

"Are you okay, Rude?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Rude replied distantly.

The bald Turk vaguely heard the other two Turks begin to argue, but he wasn't really listening. He figured that the two of them knew each other from academy, so matter how much they moaned, they were happy about their partnership. Benjamin was right though; Rude _did _have other things on his mind. He was growing increasingly concerned about the way Tseng was speaking about his partner. He didn't even know his name yet, and he was already quite terrified about meeting him. He felt a little confused though, as to why, out of the three of them, he had automatically chosen Rude to become his partner. He had a feeling that Tseng was up to something, and he probably wasn't about to shed a light on the situation.

"-and then she fell in!" Rude heard the two other rookies laughing hysterically about some inside joke, but he didn't really know or care what they were talking about. He didn't dislike his knew colleagues, he was just struggling to think amongst all the chatter and noise.

"You sure you okay, big guy?" Benjamin asked genuinely.

"Leave the guy alone Benji, I'm sure he's fine." Sharon said, still laughing at their previous conversation."

"Yeah… I'm okay." Rude said confidently. "I'm gonna go move my stuff into my apartment."

"Oh, okay…" Sharon said. "See ya tomorrow!"

"Bye, Rude." Ben said, smiling.

Rude smiled dimly and walked away from the two rookies, not really caring if they were slightly offended by his abrupt leaving. He had to think, and he had plenty to be doing… socializing was definitely not the most important thing on his list at that time.

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**A/N: **That's it for that chapter! Hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you thought! Also, I know I keep making Tseng say 'your partner' to Rude, but there is a reason for him not using his name. All will be revealed!!


	3. Reno

**A/N: **Okay, I know I've been putting this on every update I've had lately, so if you read all my stories, you can switch off now :) But this is the main story that is bugging me at the moment. If it wasn't for one particular person who had convinced me it was good, I would have given up on it. To anyone else that is thinking it, the begining of this story is supposed to be boring/monotonous in a way, because of the plot line that's going on. Rude is bored at the start, he has no partner etc. It's called pathetic fallacy or something like that. I'm trying to improve my writing skills. This chapter is a LOT better, even I'll admit, so PLEASE no more flames. Instead of basically telling me it's crap, at least tell me why, and how I can improve. Anyone ever heard of a compliment sandwich?

But whatever, I think I took a while to get this one out, but I had kinda lost my bento for it. So I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 3

The rest of that day passed quickly for Rude, despite the fact that he had nothing much to do. He wasted the hours by sorting out some of his belongings, trying to find safe places to put them. The monotonous action of this made Rude get to thinking, once again, about his partner. He felt silly in himself for wondering about him so much, but he just couldn't help it.

It was late in the afternoon when Rude could genuinely say he had nothing left to do. Looking around the room, and his gaze settling on the window, Rude had to admit it nice to be broken into his job slowly, but he was actually starting to get quite unhappy with the lack of work since he joined the Turks. As he sat himself down on the couch, intending to see what mind-numbing shows he could see on the television, his cell phone began to ring loudly. Sighing, he picked it up and accepted the call.

"Rude here."

"Rude…" Tseng's slightly dull, yet professional voice echoed down the line. "Urgent meeting. Can you make it back up to the building now?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good. I've already let Sharon and Benjamin know. Sorry to interrupt you."

"Okay."

"Good, see you in a minute then."

"Bye."

Rude hung up his cell phone and slipped it into his pocket before straightening his tie and checking his appearance briefly in the mirror. Despite all his morning's work, his suit seemed to still be in reasonable condition, so he hurried out of his door and locked it behind him.

As he made his way back up to work, Rude found himself having to fight off the curious part of his mind. He was slightly concerned as to why this was an urgent meeting, and what it was actually about. His thoughts were interrupted however, when he heard loud shouts from inside the Shin-Ra building, before he was actually anywhere near the entrance. To be honest with himself, he didn't really want to know what was causing the person inside to bellow so loudly, but he knew he had no choice.

Bracing himself, he opened to entrance door to be greeted by a slightly unusual sight. Tseng was standing a little way down the corridor, his hands by his sides and a defeated expression on his face. Rude had never seen his superior's stature so surrendering, so he immediately focused his attention on what had made him act in such a strange way.

Standing fairly close to Rude was a man, slightly shorter than himself, who from the angry expression on his face looked to be the one that had been doing the shouting. He turned around, presumably to glare at the person who had interrupted his argument, and Rude merely stared at him. He was not very substantial in build, and had bright red hair, in a very curious style. The top was short and spiky, and it terminated in a long pony-tail. The front of his hair was longer and parts of it went past the end of his nose. The red-haired man, obviously having had enough of his and Rude's staring match, narrowed his piercing aqua eyes and turned back to Tseng.

"Anyway…" he carried on slightly quieter now Rude was there. "I would've never been in this situation if it weren't for you and that stupid Gun!"

"I've got nothing more to say on the subject, Reno." Tseng said, regaining his defensive stance. "Now, are you sure you don't want to borrow a suit to wear for the meeting, I don't think President Shin-Ra would be happy to see you dressed like that."

Rude looked at the redhead again, noticing that instead of wearing the black suit that most employees wore, he was wearing rough black jeans, and a dark blue shirt, both of which were too big for him and very worn.

"Pfft, like I care." The redhead looked down at his own appearance roughly. "President Shin-Ra can-"

"Glad you could make it Rude." Tseng interrupted and finally acknowledged Rude's presence.

Rude nodded and took another glance at the redheaded man, whose expression had softened slightly.

"We all have to go to the Meeting Room, President Shin-Ra and his son will be there as well." The raven-haired man explained.

"Woo-hoo…" The redhead interrupted sarcastically. "A real party there…"

"Reno… we wouldn't have had to have this _urgent meeting _if you didn't keep disappearing." Tseng muttered. The man named Reno simply shrugged and waved him off. "Aren't you-?"

"Yeah, yeah… I'll meet you up there." Reno replied vaguely as he began to stalk off down the corridor. Tseng looked confused for a moment, and then shook his head.

"Come on."

Tseng and Rude both walked slowly down the corridor and up a flight of stairs towards the elevators. Not a word was said as the superior man pressed the 'up' button on the wall, but Rude had a feeling the silence wouldn't last long.

"Sorry about that." Tseng said finally, when the elevator reached then and the doors slid open. "It wasn't a very appropriate introduction."

"Hm." Rude muttered and furrowed his brow as the two of them stepped through the doors.

"You may have guessed, but Reno is our much-talked-about Turk…" The elevator started and stopped, and the doors creaked open again, allowing the two occupants to step out. "You just met your partner."

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Despite the fact that Rude had been shown around briefly before he started his job as a Turk, the meeting room was completely unfamiliar to him. Tseng had led him into a large room, decorated in red, with a gigantic table in the middle. Rude took a seat next to the redhead he had met earlier, who was already in the room, slouched in one of the red cushioned chairs. He glanced at Rude with an extremely bored expression on his face. Rude ignored him and looked around the room to see the other occupants. Sitting at the head of the table was whom he recognized to be President Shin-Ra. Next to him sat his son, Rufus. Although the two had similarities, thankfully for Rufus, he didn't inherit his father's build. There were a few faces in the room Rude didn't recognize, but on the other side of Reno he could see Benjamin and Sharon, both of them looking very nervous.

A few moments after everyone had finished getting seated; President Shin-Ra cleared his throat loudly, and began to speak in a serious tone.

"The opportunity hasn't arisen in a long time for me to talk to you altogether, due to various circumstances…" Rude noticed Rufus's gaze cast over to Reno briefly. The latter of the two merely shrugged his shoulders. "But it's important that I speak to you now. As you all know, a lot of Mako has gone missing from the Shin-Ra reactors, and recently, a set of papers has been pilfered regarding the destruction. This is a serious matter, and it needs dealing with immediately-"

"Sir, if I may interrupt…" a large, green-clad man stood up, scratching his dark bearded chin. "I have sent out extra SOLDIER's to guard the Junon reactor."

"Very good, Heideggar." The President nodded and the large bearded man sat down again. "Okay, extra-security aside, things need to move along. I understand that a Turk has previously been sent out to find out information. Veld?"

Veld, the man whom Tseng had met earlier that day, stood up and saluted smartly. "Sir, I don't know much about what happened. Tseng sent out one of his personally picked Turks on a specialist mission. As far as I know, not much came from that."

"Okay. Are there any suspects for who is behind this?" The President ran a hand nervously through his thinning blond hair.

"Of course there are." A voice next to Rude said loudly. All eyes fell on the redhead beside him, who didn't look even slightly unnerved.

"Hmm…" President Shin-Ra looked slightly flustered for a moment, and then narrowed his eyes at the Turk. "I take it you are the Turk Tseng dispatched. Please share any information you have."

"If I did that, there's a good chance I would wind myself killed." Reno said bluntly, examining his nails.

"Reno, it would be appreciated if you were to speak more politely to the President…" Tseng interrupted. Rude could hear the note of alarm in his voice.

"That was polite _mon capitan…_" Reno's voice instantly sharpened and the atmosphere tensed in the room. "Sorry, I mean _Tseng_, and I've only telling the truth."

"I'm sorry President Shin-Ra, sir." Tseng said apologetically, apparently realizing he wasn't going to win his way with Reno. "We are working our way towards a solution, and let's just say Reno got the raw end of the deal."

"Veld, Tseng… and the rest of the Turks…" President Shin-Ra carried on bitterly. "You have two weeks to make notable progress in this mission, or I will get Heideggar and SOLDIER involved for more than just guarding."

Both Veld and Tseng shared a look of disdain before nodding. "Yes, sir." Veld said darkly.

Rude caught sight of the bearded man named Heideggar, and couldn't help but notice the look of smug satisfaction on his face. He didn't say a word, but his expression said it all, and Rude got the strange impression that there was some sort of rivalry between these two areas of the Shin-Ra company.

"Thank you." President Shin-Ra abandoned his more serious tone, and turned and muttered something to his son. Rufus Shin-Ra smirked and nodded. "You may leave now."

* * *

**A/N: **And there you have it. I really am praying I get no bad reviews for this... but I really would appreciate anything you have to say. So yeah, see that box at the bottom with the green writing? Hit it! Please? Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be back with more soon (hopefully)


	4. Carrie

**A/N: **Hey there everyone! It has been so long since I've updated, I'm really sorry. I've been completely swamped with work. This update is a bit shorter than usual, but I wanted to put something up. One reviewer said my chapters were two short, so I'd like to know what everyone else thinks (ignore the shortness of this chapter). They're usually about 2000 words. What do you think?

The only thing I can say about this chapter is that every little detail is purposely put in. I even did a little research to make sure my information was right. I won't tell you what I'm talking about, but I'm sure you'll pick up on it in further chapters. I tried to do some character development though.

Thanks a lot for being patient, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter 4**

Rude wasn't sure what he was expected when they all left the conference room, but Reno did not even acknowledge his existence. His redheaded partner was the first to leave the room when the meeting ended, and he stalked straight past Rude and the other Turks without saying a word. Rude turned to Tseng, who merely shrugged, before the bald Turk left the room himself.

As for the 'situation' the Shin-Ra company was in, Rude didn't have a clue. All he had to go on at the moment was whatever Tseng told him. With this in mind, he came to a halt as soon as he stepped outside the conference room, intending to wait for the raven-haired superior. He caught a brief site of the redhead he'd just encountered as he wondered down the hallway. Now that his partner thought he was out of everybody's view, his stature seemed to droop slightly, as though he felt defeated. He wondered vaguely, not for the first time, what the redhead's situation actually was, before he was tapped on the shoulder by someone behind him.

"Rude? Everything okay?" the bald Turk turned to see Tseng.

"Yes, sir." Rude raised an eyebrow, wondering if Tseng would think to shine a little like on the situation.

"If you're wondering what to do now, just go back to your apartment. Reno will probably be there. He's not really in a fit state to organize missions with at the moment." the dark haired man seemed to be staring down the corridor that Reno had previously been in.

"Sir… what is going on?" Rude asked quietly. He just couldn't stand knowing nothing anymore.

"In all honesty, Reno knows more about this than I do. But getting information from him at the moment will be hard." Tseng paused and sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. "Over time you'll get to know Reno, and things will be a lot easier for you. Until then… just take things as they come I suppose."

Rude nodded and looked at his superior. He still had a defeated look about him, like he had done when Rude had first walked into work to see him and Reno arguing. Clearly, whatever was happening was taking it's toll on everybody.

"Look, Rude…" Tseng sighed. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help. You came to us during difficult times."

"I understand." Rude said plainly. It didn't help him vent any frustration, but he did understand that some situations would be out of Tseng's control.

"Good. I'll see both you and Reno in my office at 0700 hours tomorrow."

* * *

Rude couldn't help but feel, as he followed the still slightly unfamiliar path to his apartment, that a lot of time was being wasted in the Turk department. President Shin-Ra had given them two weeks maximum to sort things out, and nobody seemed to be making a great effort to do so. He didn't like the fact that he was being left in the dark so much, especially when he had only just started his job.

The door to Rude's apartment door was slightly open when he arrived. He would've found it suspicious, but he guessed that Reno had already returned. Breathing deeply and bracing himself for what was to come, Rude entered and closed the door behind him.

Walking straight into the living room, Rude saw the redhead sprawled out on the couch. His strangely long legs dangled awkwardly off the end and his left arm was hiding his face. Rude coughed slightly, to try and announce his arrival discreetly.

"Hey." Reno said bluntly lifting his arm briefly off his face.

"Hey." Rude replied quietly. He had no idea not to say to his partner. He didn't seem willing to make any sort of intellectual conversation, so Rude made his way over and perched on the small area of the couch that the redhead wasn't taking up.

"Ya wantin' some space there, big guy?" Reno lifted his arm up again and looked up at Rude, who was currently sitting right above him. The redhead let out a huge sigh and heaved himself off the couch, stretching out his arms. Rude cringed at the resulting cracking noise, but tried his best to ignore it, hoping the redhead would say something else.

"I pro'ly made the wrong impression earlier, huh?" Reno scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that."

"No problem." Rude said, slightly relieved as Reno sat down again, slightly more dignified this time.

"Hmph…" he rolled his eyes and looked over at Rude. "This really seem like a waste of time, don't it?"

"The mission?" Rude raised an eyebrow, slightly confused.

"Yuh-huh." the man slouched next to Rude nodded his head surprisingly enthusiastically. "I been workin' on this since I freakin' got here. It's getting' kinda tedious now…"

"I… see." Rude looked away from the redhead with a frown on his face.

"I don't s'pose Tseng has _enlightened _you with all the details yet, huh?" Reno sighed when Rude shook his head. "I guess the _top-man _has left that for me then."

Rude said nothing, and used the silence to ponder on Reno's behavior. He had noticed that every time his partner said anything about Tseng, his tone became somewhat sardonic.

"If I were you, I'd be tryin' to get all the info I could… why ain't ya?" Reno asked, breaking Rude out of his thoughts.

"I don't know."

"Well, whatever. You were lucky to get stuck with me; I'm the only one that knows what's goin' on anyway." the redhead's tone has changed greatly in a short space of time, and he was beginning to sound quite proud. "Boss-man doesn't even ask me what I know now."

"Well, what do you know?"

"Ya know 'bout all the drug's heists… the mako theft?" Rude nodded. "Somebody nabbed the papers with the shutdown codes for the reactor in Junon… all to get Mako. It was some ass-hole that I used to know when I was younger."

"Is that where you were the past few weeks?"

"Yep. Ya guessed it." Reno grinned, slightly deviously. Rude couldn't help but notice that his upper canine teeth were unusually sharp, like those in a very young person. "To be honest I didn't really find much out at all… I think I made things worse actually."

"Why's that?" Rude noticed that the redhead looked away at these words, and his expression became a lot more apprehensive.

"Let's just say I hurt someone that helped me a lot." Reno looked at his knees. "I ain't seen her since then… I dunno if I'll ever see her again. She left… I don't think she left Shin-Ra altogether, but Tseng hasn't said anything…"

Another awkward silence followed, during which Reno seemed immensely interested in a loose thread on his sleeve. Rude said nothing, for once not because of his hatred for drawing attention to himself. The subject was clearly making the redhead restless, and anyone with any common sense would know not to push it.

"I wonder where she is…" Reno's tone changed rapidly once again, and he seemed more thoughtful than anything else. "I wonder if she'll forgive me."

* * *


	5. Briefing

**A/N: **Hey everyone! Sorry about the wait. My updates seem to get less and less regular all the time. The good news is that this is a pretty long chapter, and I did work very hard on it. NOTE: Please remember that the first section is NOT a dream, although it might seem like it. It's something that's happening in another place. Writing like that is something I haven't done in a very long time, but I thought I'd give it a try. Hope that you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5**

It may have been late at night, but there were always places in the Slums where the lights never went off no matter what the time. One of these places was a certain, run-down bar in Sector 7. It was nothing spectacular, with peeling wallpaper and a old-fashioned fireplace, but there was always people in there. On this particular night, two women stepped outside, both similar both in stature and hair color, but the slightly taller one wore a large hood over her head, hiding her face.

"Do you understand what I've told you?" The older-looking one said.

"Yes." The other woman said in a timid voice, shaking her blond hair out of her face.

"Good. I'm sorry it has to come to this, but it's important you do what I say." The older woman smiled kindly. "It is important for his work as a Turk that you stay away. Otherwise… well, take a look."

The woman took her hood off her head to reveal her face to her younger companion. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a black bandana, but that wasn't the most notable thing about her appearance. Her face was covered in various cuts and bruises, and her eyes were only half open due to swelling. She lifted a lightly bandaged hand and ran her fingers through her hair.

"W-what happened?" The younger girl looked shocked as the other pulled the hood back over her face.

"I got in the way of an old feud between two men I hardly knew…" The woman said regretfully. "A mistake I'll never make again."

* * *

Rude awoke sharply from unintentional, dreamless sleep and looked around confusedly. He was slouched on the couch, and all the lights were turned off around him. As far as he could see, he was alone.

Stretching out his arms, Rude got up and switched on the light, pausing slightly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. Everything was exactly the same as it was before he'd fallen asleep, except from his partner was missing. Despite the fact that Rude was completely unsure as to what the time was, he headed straight for Reno's room to settle the nagging voice in his head.

Rude suspected it for some reason, but it was still quite odd to see Reno's room empty. Everything in there was exactly the same as it had been before as well, including a pair of goggles and an EMR laying on the bed, but the PHS was gone. Rude did find this slightly suspicious, but there was really nothing he could actually do about it. He didn't have Reno's cell phone number, and considering it was probably very late at night, he couldn't really bother Tseng with his pointless concerns. No, his partner was old enough and mature enough to know what he was doing. But still, Rude knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he put himself to bed now, he wouldn't be able to sleep. So, losing hope that he was going to get any sleep that night, he made his way back into the living room and turned on the T.V. He felt slightly relieved as he saw the clock in the corner of the T.V as he switched the news on, and it was only just past 11 pm, but he had no idea how long Reno would be, wherever he had gone.

Rude jumped slightly as a cat screeched outside. He must have nodded off again as when he looked at the clock, it was nearly half past 12. Seconds later, Rude heard the front door tear open, and then close again. The bald Turk turned around to see his partner enter the room.

"Hey…" Reno seemed slightly taken aback for some reason.

"Where have you been?"

"Just out for a walk… to clear my head, ya know… why? What's up?" Reno raised an eyebrow as he launched himself onto the couch next to Rude.

"Nothing." Rude looked at his partner, unable to note anything about his appearance to think he could be lying. Rude didn't even know why he was suspicious of his redheaded partner. Maybe it was just anxiety because he didn't know him, or maybe it was because of the way he was acting about their current mission. It seemed suspicious that Reno was seemingly in charge, and nothing had yet happened.

"Ya could've gone to bed, ya know. I wasn't gonna be all night. Gotta be at work at 7, ain't we?" Reno said, completely oblivious to Rude's suspicions.

"I woke up."

"Yeah… I see that." Reno gave Rude a strange look. "Well, whatever. I'm off to bed; I'm bushed. Night."

"Night."

Rude watched as the redhead scuffed his way over to his bedroom, and closed the door behind him. It seemed odd somehow that not another word was said, that Reno had just come and gone, just like that. Trying to push all this to the back of his mind for the sake of a good night's sleep, Rude stood up and mimicked Reno, quickly putting himself to bed.

* * *

Rude awoke fairly sharply, but did not open his eyes. For some reason, his instincts told him to stay deadly still, and he was sure that it hadn't been his alarm clock that had woken him up.

"Oi!" came a loud voice from nearby. Rude's eyes snapped open see his redheaded partner sitting cross-legged on the bottom of his bed. "I've been tryin' to wake ya for five minutes. Get up!"

Rude didn't say a word, as he wasn't entirely sure whether the redhead was genuinely irritated at him or not. Whatever the case, something had definitely rubbed him up the wrong way. The bald Turk felt a slight pang of annoyance as he walked into the living room and looked at the clock. It was only 10 past 6 in the morning.

"Whatcha starin' at?" Reno asked quickly, grinning like a chesire cat.

"Why so early?"

"I dunno… I woke up early and I was bored." Reno shrugged and pushed himself up so he was sitting on the kitchen counter. "Is there a problem?"

"No." Rude wandered over to make himself a cup of coffee whilst still studying his partner. He did not know the redhead well enough to know whether or not this behavior was normal for him, but he was capable of making basic judgments of people. Rude knew that either the redhead suffered serious mood swings, or there was a reason why he was acting so highly strung. It was quite a change from the lethargic man from the night before, to a man that was slightly childish, and apparently a very good morning person. No, something did not add up. Rude wouldn't have been surprised if the redhead hadn't been asleep at all the night before.

"Ya seem a big deep in thought there, my bald friend. What's up?" Reno asked, looking down at Rude from his seat on the kitchen counter. Rude just stared at him, intrigued. "What?"

"Nothing." Rude shook his head and continued making his coffee. It was strange how different this man was to himself, talking so casually to someone he barely knew. Rude knew that he had never been confident around people, but Reno wasn't… well, normal.

"Meh well, whatever." Reno jumped down from the counter and stretched out his slender arms. "I'm gonna make some breakfast… want some?"

"Sure." Rude nodded, albeit slightly reluctantly. He didn't really feel like eating anything so early, but he knew that living the life of the Turk, it was hard to tell when you would get your next meal, depending on emergency missions. Reno grinned and began to look around in the fridge and cupboards for something edible whilst Rude drank his freshly made coffee.

"Mustard… milk… apples?" Reno muttered to himself. "Why is there no damn food in this apartment?" the redhead shook his head and continued looking.

"Would it be stupid to suggest you bought something?" Rude said quietly.

"Ah-hah!" Reno cried in victory and pulled out a small pack of bacon. "What?" he looked temporarily stunned. "Buy something? Oh! Yeah, of course, never thought of that."

Rude ignored this curious statement and watched as the redhead as he threw all the bacon out of the packet into a frying pan. Although the smell was nice, it turned Rude's stomach slightly and he backed away from the sight of cooking.

As Rude re-entered the living room, the sound of ringing met his ears. He searched on the couch for the source of the noise and uncovered his own cell phone and held it to his ear.

"Rude here."

"Rude?" Tseng's voice echoed down the line. "Is it possible for you to come in a little bit earlier?"

"I suppose so. Reno as well?" Rude asked.

"No, just you." Rude was slightly surprised by this response. "I need to talk to you before you start work."

"Okay…" There was a long silence during which Rude's head clouded with thoughts. What could Tseng want to talk about that Reno couldn't hear?"

"All right." Tseng said slightly awkwardly. "Just come down as soon as you're ready. There's no rush, just try and leave before Reno. It'll be hard to get rid of him if you both come in together."

"Okay." Rude repeated himself and hung up, heading back into the kitchen.

"What's up?" Reno asked, still preparing breakfast.

"I have to go into work a little early." Rude said bluntly.

"So what? You don't need me to walk you there, do ya?. Eat this and get goin'." Reno thrust a plate into Rude's hands as he tucked into his own breakfast. Rude picked up the first of his two sandwiches and began to eat.

"So… why do ya have to go in early? Tseng need you to ruin someone else's life for 'the sake of Shin-Ra'?" Reno asked, not caring how full his mouth was. Rude just looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, ignore that. Seriously, why?"

"I don't know." Rude shrugged his shoulders as he ate. For some reason, he didn't feel very comfortable telling the redhead anything, since Tseng clearly wanted to see him for that exact reason; Reno.

Reno didn't reply straight away, but he stopped eating and looked at Rude briefly. The bald Turk had a suspicion that Reno knew he was lying. "Ah well, you'll find out soon enough I guess." Reno said eventually, starting to eat again.

Rude nodded, finishing the last of his sandwich, he handed the plate over to Reno. "Here, I've got to hurry up."

"Ah, sweet." Reno accepted the rest of Rude's breakfast gratefully. "More for me."

Rude hurried into his room to finished getting ready for work. Within less than five minutes, he was completely dressed, washed and ready to go. He left his room swiftly to inform Reno of his departure, but instead of making it to the living room, he met the redhead in a rather painful collision in the hallway.

"Ow, shit, sorry." Reno rubbed his arm and looked at Rude. "You going?"

"Are you finished?" Rude stared at the redhead, slightly dumbstruck.

"What? Oh, eating. Yeah." Reno grinned and held his hand up in a wave. "Bye Rude. See ya at work."

* * *

With whatever Tseng wanted to talk about still spinning around his mind, Rude made his way quickly over to the Shin-Ra building. Nothing was really much different to what it always was, except the sun was only just rising so it wasn't very bright, and there weren't many cars around. It wasn't a particularly spectacular day, and the weather seemed unsure which extreme it should head to. Rude took one last breath of outside air and entered the Shin-Ra building.

"Rude." The bald Turk was instantly greeted by his superior Turk who was standing talking to someone in the reception area. He looked slightly frazzled by Rude's sudden appearance but he quickly waved off the person that he was talking to and hurried over to Rude.

"Rude…" he repeated. "I'm sorry for making you come so early. Come on, walk with me." Tseng began to lead Rude up the stairs to the right, towards the Turk's offices before continuing. "I wanted to talk with you about Reno, as you may have guessed."

"Mm." Rude nodded.

"I have been talking with Veld about the latest information Reno's shared with me, and I feel it's necessary to tell you this. I don't supposed he's mentioned his recent experience, has he?"

"What experience?"

"His encounter with his old enemy, and one of our employees. Damien, and Carrie Kuroshica." Tseng sighed. "Carrie worked with Reno when he first joined the Turks and also happened to help him a lot with his whole life, to be honest. She doesn't directly work for the Turks, but she helps when we need it. At the time, she and Reno were the only two that were working for the Turks, other than me of course."

"Okay…" Tseng's words lingered in Rude's mind for a moment, before he remembered what Reno had said the night before. _"Let's just say I hurt someone that helped me a lot." _

"Anyway, this man, Damien, happens to now be an enemy of Shin-Ra. Reno believes he is responsible for our problems with mako theft, and the stolen destructions papers from Junon. Reno went undercover, pretending he'd been dismissed from the Turks, but when all three of them came together…"

Tseng stopped talking all of a sudden, but Rude didn't interrupt the silence. He had a feeling he knew what was coming.

"Ultimately…" Tseng said slowly. "Reno had to pretend he hated Shin-Ra, so Damien wanted him to show his loyalty by shooting Carrie."

"And… he did?" Rude asked.

"Yes." Tseng nodded regretfully. "He did. He had no choice, so I don't blame him for that. But afterwards, Reno called me to tell me what he'd done, to try and get Carrie some help… but he was found out."

"So it was all for no reason." Rude finished the story for himself. He finally understood.

"Carrie hasn't returned to us since then. She's still recovering, and probably hiding. You see, she hadn't seen the last of her problems when Reno shot her. Damien tracked her down and beat her." Tseng's face fell at these words. "I don't know if she'll ever come back to us or not."

"I see."

"Reno's problems haven't ended there either though unfortunately." Tseng stopped walking when he reached the door to his office. "It may sound stupid, but it's routine… Reno's loyalty will have to be looked into."

"What?" Rude couldn't help himself, he had to check that Tseng wasn't joking.

"Veld wants it to happen, not necessarily me." Tseng explained. "But he did make an attack on a Shin-Ra employee. So that's where you come in?"

"How?"

"You're his partner, aren't you?" The raven-haired Turk said. "You'll be spending more time with him than anyone else. At one point, I will do a formal report on his work. Unfortunately, any appropriate opportunity hasn't arose yet."

"Okay…" Rude just stared at his superior blankly.

"Don't worry. I have every confidence that Reno is on our side. It's just a formality." Tseng made to open his office door. "You may find other difficulties in your partnership with Reno, but that's for you to learn on your own I'm afraid."

Tseng entered his office and closed the door behind him, leaving Rude to ponder on his words. He did not like how Tseng often said things like that about Reno, but didn't explain them. Still, at least he knew a lot more than he previously had done. With all of this still on his mind, Rude wondered off in search of Reno.


	6. First Mission

**A/N: **Just managed to get this up before I had to go to work. This is like, the quickest update I've done in months. I'm on summer break now, so I'm gonna try and make more time to write. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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* * *

Chapter 6**

Rude slammed his cup down on the table and looked at his watch. He'd been sitting in the cafeteria for almost 20 minutes now, after failing to find Reno, just waiting. He wasn't sure why he actually wanted to find the redhead so desperately, as there was no way he could share what Tseng had just talked with him about, but sitting along he felt Tseng's words swimming round and round in his head, and it was getting to him.

He watched various employees pass through the cafeteria, wondering vaguely what their day would hold, and whether it would be anything like his. Eventually, Rude caught sight of a flash of red and focused his attention on the man entering the room. He made his way quickly over Rude's table and sat next to him, but Rude just continued to stare at him.

"What?" Reno said defensively.

Rude couldn't put his finger on it, but despite the fact he had only seen the redhead less than an hour ago, there was something noticeably different about his appearance.

"Nothing." Rude shook his head. "What took you so long?"

"Oh…" Reno looked distant for a moment, then seemed to shake the feeling off. "Nothing. Just got held up, that's all."

Rude looked up at his partner without saying anything. Reno's shining aqua eyes darted back and forth and it seemed like he was trying to avoid looking Rude directly in the eyes. Those orbs of bluey-green were oddly bright, and they were slightly red and bloodshot. The redhead rubbed one eye then looked quickly away from Rude and sighed.

"Anywho…" Reno carried on. "What did Tseng want?"

"Just to brief me in on what had been going on so far." Rude said. He felt good about putting it like that; he wasn't lying, but he wasn't going into too much detail either.

"Ah, okay then…" Reno nodded and rubbed his eyes again consciously. Rude frowned but Reno carried on chatting away. "I've got somethin' I gotta talk to ya 'bout anyway."

"Ok?" Rude raised an eyebrow. Why couldn't he have spoken with him that morning about whatever it was?

"Yeah…" Reno leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "So ya know about the mako theft and Destruction papers and stuff? I don't recall whether or not I told ya or Tseng did or whatever…"

"Yeah I know about it…" Rude stared at the redhead. His memory apparently wasn't the best.

"Right… well I've got a little bit of info that'll be golden." Reno chewed a little on one of his fingernails before continuing. "The guy called Damien… he ain't the only one right at the top. I didn't get a name for who the guy at the top is, but I got someone that can help us… if they co-operate."

"What do you mean 'at the top'?" Rude asked.

"I mean there's more people out there that are just as likely to have a hand in all this pilferin'" Reno narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Although I wouldn't mind an excuse to punch the shit outta Damien… I just wanna get this solved now."

"Ok… so what now?" Rude asked.

"Now… we go speak to Tseng." Reno sighed and put his hands on the table forcefully. "But first I'm gettin' a coffee. It's gonna be a long day."

* * *

"We know what we're doin', Tseng." Reno explained to his superior. "All we need is your approval."

"Where will you be going?" the raven-haired man asked. He seemed slightly reluctant for some reason.

"About ten minutes away. Don't see why it would matter. You pretty much told me I was in charge of this now." There was a coldness about the redhead's voice, and from Tseng's expression, Rude wasn't the only one that noticed.

"Look, Reno." Tseng leaned forward on his seat and lowered his voice to a threatening tone. "You have control over this situation because you've made yourself in charge. The lack of information you're providing me with is not acceptable. I am you're superior-"

"Yeah, you're not in charge though are ya?" Reno hissed. "Take it up with _Veld._"

Reno added so much sarcasm when he mentioned Veld's name that this seemed to be the last straw for Tseng. He stood up sharply, not taking his eyes off the redhead.

"It's not too late for me to hand this situation over to SOLDIER, Reno." he snapped. "Now stop being childish."

"Oh, yeah, right?" Reno laughed cynically. "'Cause SOLDIER are gonna do a better job, they know exactly what they're doin'. F.Y.I Tseng, if I told you exactly what was goin' on, I'd be killed. I can't risk an information leak."

"You shouldn't let the past get in the way of your job." Tseng's tone lightened again, and he stared straight into Reno eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Although from the look of things, some of these things are not in the past, are they?"

The silence that filled the room at that moment was quite terrifying. Neither of the two men in Rude's presence took their eyes off each other for several minutes. The bald Turk had no idea what this extreme tension was about. All he knew was that since he met Reno, he had grown more and more suspicious that there was something he was hiding.

"We're goin'" The redhead said eventually, smacking a hand down on the desk. "You can tell Veld what you want. This is personal now, so whether I'm with you or not, I'm doin' somethin' 'bout this."

Reno didn't wait for a reply to this before turning swiftly and leaving the room. Rude took a last glance at Tseng who merely shook his head.

"Just go with him." the dark-haired man said exhaustedly. "We'll sort it out when you get back."

* * *

It never really occurred to Rude before to wonder how old Reno actually was, but when Rude followed him outside to where he was standing next to a large black car. The redhead didn't look a day older than 16; could he actually drive?

" I saw that look." Reno said, grinning slightly. "Is it Tseng or the car you're cautious about?"

"The car." Rude replied. The real answer was actually both, but he didn't want to push the subject.

"Ahh…" Reno smirked and opened the drivers door. "When I was in the slums I taught myself to drive… not in the most honest way either. But as interestin' as my stories of hot-wirin' cars are, we got work to do."

"So you don't have a license?" Rude asked getting in the front passenger seat.

"Not strictly speakin'" Reno laughed half-heartedly. "But I don't need a freakin' card to prove I can do somethin'."

Rude didn't reply as he put his seatbelt on, and watched as the redhead buried his face in his hands and sighed loudly.

"Where are we going?" Rude asked. He was trying to avoid actually asking the redhead what was wrong.

"Just a few blocks away." Reno said, leaning up and checking his mirrors. In the outside light, Reno's bloodshot eyes became much more obvious. "All I know is where he lives, and his surname is Muerte."

Without saying another word, Reno put the car in drive and set off steadily. Rude didn't know what to expect from a man without a driving license, but he did not expect the whole ride to go smoothly.

As soon as Reno got out onto the main road he sped up, making the engine rattle worryingly. He turned a corner, nearly mounting the sidewalk as he did so and carried on driving.

After a few minutes of driving in silence, the awkwardness was shattered by a cell phone ringing loudly.

"That's mine." Reno said quickly, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. Rude didn't like the way the car swerved when he did so, but he ignored as Reno answered his called. "Ca-" the redhead was about to say something down the phone, but he had obviously been interrupted. There was a long silence while Reno was spoken too, and Rude could see his face fall. "Okay. Thank you."

Reno slowly hung up the call and Rude had the feeling he wasn't really concentrating on the road. There was something strange about his expression, a look that Rude had never seen before. Just as the bald Turk thought they might crash, Reno turned off quickly, showing no care into what he was doing. He parked roughly outside a house, then turned the engine off.

"You ready?" Reno turned to Rude and grinned. The smile did not reach his eyes, Rude knew that something must have happened, but Reno didn't seem to be a very easy person to read.

The two Turks slowly got out of the car and Rude studied the area. They were in a very run-down looking street, lined with small gray houses. They were parked outside a wooden fence that stood taller than Rude, so they could see nothing beyond that.

"This is where it gets excitin' partner." Reno muttered. Rude looked at his partner but there was no trace of excitement in his eyes. "If I were you, I'd be askin' for advice right now, since this is your first mission. But since I know I'm gonna be havin' this conversation by myself, I'll give ya a pointer anyway…" Reno looked ahead into the unknown and sighed. "Don't expect things to go right. That way ya won't be disappointed when the shit hits the fan."

It didn't sound like any advice Rude had ever listened to before, but there must have been some sense in it. There was something going on inside the redhead's mind; Rude was sure of that now.

Reno slipped his hand down in the gap between the two gates and pulled open the bolt. The gate swung open creakily to reveal a house just as shabby as the rest of them. The two Turks walked up the path, and surprisingly, Reno made a normal decision and knocked on the door civilly, instead of smashing the window or something to that effect. When they got no answer, Reno sighed loudly and started rummaging around in his pocket. He pulled out an ordinary paperclip and began to attempt to pick the lock, albeit unsuccessfully.

"Damn it." Reno stuck the paperclip back into his pocket and kicked the wall forcefully.

"Tricky lock?" Rude asked.

"Nah, I don't fail at these things." the redhead tried the handle, but the door was definitely locked. After a few seconds of trying to look through the window in the door, he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion.

"Right. I'm gonna smash the window." the smaller man said, rolling up his sleeve.

"What if there's just nobody in?" Rude tried to persuade Reno not to. It wasn't exactly the conclusion he was hoping for.

"No." All at once, Reno drew his fist back, and forced his hand to collide with the glass. It shattered instantly. "The door's locked from the inside. Somebody's home, an' I'm gonna find 'em."

The redhead put his hand through the now broken window and unlocked the door from the inside. The catch clicked open and Reno smiled triumphantly.

* * *

There wasn't a sound as the two Turks entered the house. Although it was not the entrance they had hoped for, nothing else seemed to have been disturbed. Someone was obviously hiding in that house, and from the silence that still surrounding them, they must have been terrified. Rude had half-expected whoever the person was to come out when they heard the smashing of glass.

"Come out, come out." Reno said tauntingly, pulling a gun out of his pocket. They went into the living room, and were greeted by an unexpected sight.

A small whimper reached Rude's ears from a small bundle on the couch. Reno walked straight over and pulled the heavy blanket off to reveal a little girl, huddled in fear. Her dark eyes glinted in the dim light coming through the crack in the curtains. Her pale blonde hair looked tousled and neglected.

"Go away!" she screeched loudly.

Reno did not seem moved by this at all and cocked his head slightly to one side. The girl whined and tried to pull the blanket back over herself, but Reno kicked it away with his foot. There was an anger about his face that confused Rude slightly. The redhead suddenly started ignoring the girl, and looked around the room like a dog that had just picked up a scent. He marched swiftly over to the cupboard in the corned and ripped open the door.

"You God-damned coward!" Reno yelled. Rude watched him as with surprising strength, he grabbed a man that was sitting in the cupboard by the collar and threw him out on the living room floor. "You sent a child out to cover your ass. You make me sick."

The man didn't reply, he just backed himself away from the redhead as he seemed to get more and more infuriated. Then, completely out of the blue, the little girl on the couch jumped to her feet and ran to stand in between Reno and the man Rude assumed was called Muerte.

"Leave my daddy alone!" she shouted at Reno. The redhead merely pushed the girl aside, who fell to the floor with a thud, to get to his victim.

"Who do you work for?" Reno hissed at Muerte.

"I have nothing to do with it. You _Turks_ have no business with me." Muerte spat.

"Oh I believe we do." Reno smirked. The girl made another effort to get between the two men, but Rude grabbed her by the wrist and held her back. "You didn't make things easier for yourself by hiding. You were expectin' us. Now, what'd'ya know 'bout a guy called Damien?"

"Nothing."

Reno sighed and pulled the safety catch off his gun. "I got plenty of disposable bastards I can get this from, so make things easy for yaself. I'll see to it ya won't be killed."

The man looked slightly ambiguous for amount, and looked from Reno to his daughter several times before sighing. "I'll be killed by someone else anyway, so what difference does it make? I'm not voluntarily helping Shin-Ra."

"The difference, my friend, is that if we don't get any information from you, the whole of this Sector could end up being destroyed. That means your daughter, too."

The man looked to his daughter and sighed again. Rude had no idea what his partner was talking about that Sector for, when it was really Junon that was in danger, but Reno definitely knew what he was doing. Most people, even those who are otherwise completely heartless, will do anything for their children.

"Hayler." the man said quietly. "Ria Hayler."

"That's all I need to know." Reno smirked and quickly raised his gun and fired. The man fell lifelessly onto his back, his blank eyes staring straight up. Blood was pouring out a wound in his head.

Rude only just managed to catch hold of the girl before she attempted to run at Reno. She began screaming and cursing the redhead, but the latter just stared.

"Shh, sweetheart." Reno leaned down and put his hand on the girls shoulder. She seemed taken aback as she didn't shake him off. "You got any other family?"

The girl shook her head as tears began to run down her face. The emotion in her expression was quite extreme, and Rude wasn't sure if he should still be holding her arms or not.

Reno shook his head and sighed. "Let her go Rude." he said quietly. "Go and say goodbye, sweetheart."

Rude let go of the girl who ran and lowered herself to group to embrace her lifeless father. Her cries were muffled into his chest as Reno held his gun up slowly again. Before Rude could say anything, the girl became a lifeless body herself, dying instantly in her father's arms.

* * *

**A/N: **Hope you enjoyed it! And if you recognize the name Ria Hayler vaguely, it's not me being uninventive with names. I did it on purpose lol. Please review!


	7. Partnership

**_A/N:_ **_Sorry, this chapter is a lot shorter than the last one. At least I updated quickly this time! Not a lot actually happens in this chapter for some reason, but I think it's good. Please drop a review! I hope you enjoy the chapter!!_**

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**

**Chapter 7**

Rude was more than a little shocked at the events he had just witnessed. His partner however, seemed more relieved than anything else, which infuriated Rude even more. Reno was completely oblivious to the fact that he had just done something completely morally wrong in Rude's books.

"Okay..." Reno walked swiftly up to the car and slammed his hand down on it. "How was that?"

"Fine." Rude said, slightly taken aback.

"I know ya didn't get to do much, I just thought you'd like to see how it was done first." the redhead continued as he clambered into the drivers seat. Rude followed suit but didn't say a word for that moment. However, frustration began to boil in Rude like a sickness. His partner had just killed an innocent girl, and another man that probably didn't need to be killed, and he didn't even seem to have the slightest suspicion that Rude was unnerved?

"That's how it's done, is it?" Rude said finally in a stone-cold tone.

"Yeah." The redhead replied quickly before sighing loudly. "And here's where it starts. What's your problem?"

"What's my problem?" Rude repeated. He almost laughed at the redhead's ignorance.

"Yeah, that's what I said." Rude could see his partner's eye twitching slightly, and he knew he'd somehow touched a nerve. "In fact..." his tone changed suddenly. "Let's not fall out on our first mission together. I'm the fully qualified Turk, you're not. So nya." Reno stood out his tongue and started the car engine. As they started to move, Rude gritted his teeth so hard for a moment he was scared he'd actually loosened some of them. He hardly even knew the redhead, yet there was something about his attitude that was really grinding Rude's nerves. The way he spoke to Tseng, the way he composed himself... everything really. He feared though that that first mission would be the one thing to start real problems.

Creating an argument was the last thing Rude wanted to do. He definitely didn't want tension between him and his partner, but he kept casting his mind back to Tseng's many warnings about him. _Things might get tricky after your partner comes back... _he couldn't have been more right. He looked over at his partner, who just carried on driving, ignorant of Rude's feelings. He still seemed completely unaffected by both the mission and their small argument.

"I probably ought ta go see Tseng when we get back.." Reno said suddenly. His voice was casual.

"Mm."

"Somethin's really botherin' ya, ain't it?" Reno turned to Rude swiftly, taking his eye completely off the road; a terrifying prospect in Rude's opinion.

"Just keep driving." Rude said, very concerned that Reno wasn't looking at the road. The redhead sighed, shook his head and looked back at the road

"Right. I'm lookin' at the road." Reno said cynically. "Now tell me what's up?"

"What's up? You just killed two people, just like that." Rude said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"So?" Reno shrugged. "It's part o' the job, partner. Though ya knew that before ya signed up."

Rude couldn't quite believe that the redhead still didn't understand his point of view. He ordered his thoughts as Reno parked outside Shin-Ra and turned the engine off.

"I know perfectly well what I signed up for." Rude said darkly, as the two of them still sat in the car. "That girl was innocent. And you probably didn't need to kill that man either."

"Aah-" Reno smirked slightly, letting out a laugh, before the two of them hastily got out of the car. "So _that's _what it is."

"Yeah."

"Hah... well don't worry you'll learn soon enough." Reno smiled knowingly at Rude, before making to head back to the Shin-Ra building. Anger shot through Rude though, and he grabbed the smaller man by the shoulder, turning him back around. Reno looked shocked for a moment, but he quickly let his smirk creep back onto his face. "Now what?"

"I'll learn what?" Rude hissed. "How to kill innocent people?"

"Oh for-" Reno rolled his eyes. "Don't start. That guy obviously had some knowledge of Shin-Ra's situation, or he wouldn't've been able to give me any name. So-" Reno made a slitting motion across his throat. "And as for the girl... well, that's more of a personal thing."

"What?"

"That girl just saw her own dad's murder..." As Reno said these words, it seemed like a light had been switched off behind his eyes. "And she's got no one left. Can't leave a kid to grow up like that."

"She could have got care, and help." Rude said in attempt to defend his point. He could tell however that there was no swaying Reno.

"Care and help?" Reno laughed coldly. "Ya really think that's how things work for kids in the slums? A kid, being left suddenly like that... by tomorrow she'd have drugs in her system, by the next day she'd be pregnant, and give it till the end of the week and she'd be dead."

"And just because_ you_ think that might happen, that gives you the right to decided whether she lives or dies?" At these words, Reno put his head down. It wasn't in an intimidated way, he actually looked quite upset.

"I just try to do what's best." the redhead's voice was shaking slightly. "I think she would have preferred it that way."

"You don't know that."

Rude wasn't sure whether it was what he had said, or the slightly harsh tone he had used, but it seemed to really tip Reno overboard for some reason. Before Rude had a chance to react, the redhead had pulled his left fist back and smacked Rude in the face. He didn't think Reno was as strong as he was, but he had one hell of a left hand on him, and his knuckles were sharp against his cheekbone. Rude's vision blurred for a moment, and before everything came back into focus, he took action. He thrust his own fist forward as hard as he could manage, and felt it make contact with Reno's face with a sickening crunch. Rude saw the redhead fall backwards, and land heavily on his back. He supported himself with his elbows and looked up at Rude, laughing.

As Rude's vision came back into focus, he saw that blood was running down the redhead's face, from his nose, which was probably now broken. There was a glint of menace in Reno's already bruised eye.

"Now what, partner?" Reno said mockingly, wiping some of the blood off his face with his sleeve. "First you show yaself as an ignorant bastard, then ya break my nose. Anythin' else ya wanna throw at me?"

Rude reached down and, ignoring Reno's flinch, grabbed the redhead's hand and easily pulled him to his feet. He pulled away quickly and began dusting down his suit. Rude wasn't quite sure why he was bothering, since he had a flowing river of blood down the front of his shirt. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Reno turned and made for the Shin-Ra building yet again. Rude stared at his back for a moment before following.

On the way to Tseng's office, Reno made an attempt to clean up his face. Rude didn't say another word to him, but there was a definite tension between them. Reno knocked on Tseng's walnut office door and entered before waiting for any response.

"How did it go?" Tseng asked, looking up from whatever he was doing.

"Fine. I got a name." Reno said. His voice was extremely nasal as he hadn't let go of the bridge of his nose.

"Good." Tseng raised an eyebrow as he looked at Reno's condition. "And the blood?"

"What?" Reno looked down at himself. "Oh. Not a very co-operative guy. Couple of kills I'm 'fraid..."

There was something about the way Tseng looked over at Rude at that moment that made him feel uneasy. It was almost as if he knew that Reno was lying. He wasn't even sure what he was worried about anyway. After all, it was Reno who had started the violence. But why was a different question...

"You know the drill." Tseng handed some papers to Reno. "Take Rude through them so he knows what he's doing."

"Yeah..." Reno took the papers and rolled them up in his hand.

"I'm not going to say anything to Veld." their superior looked somewhat pitiful for some reason. "I assume we can put earlier's disagreement behind us." Reno nodded. "Good. Now if you'd like to leave, I need a quick work with Rude. I'll send him up to your office when we're done."

Reno left without a word, leaving Rude and Tseng alone. Tseng turned his full attention to Rude and smiled slightly. "Now tell me, you don't agree with Reno's method's do you?"

"How do you-?"

"I could feel the tension." Tseng said simply. "And I saw you from my window."

"Oh."

"All I can say is you will learn from your mistakes. As you've probably noticed by now, Reno has a few problems with himself at the moment. These missions he's on are more important to him on a personal level than for the sake of his job."

"Yeah, I guessed that." Rude sighed. He still felt very confused.

"You'll have to bear with him I'm afraid." Tseng explained. "Now, after you've finished your paperwork, we'll discuss what we spoke about before; Reno's loyalty."


	8. Eavesdropping

_**A/N: **Hmm, this seemed a lot longer when I was writing it, but there's not as many words as I thought there was. Oh well :) I just managed to finish in time before I have to head to bed. Gotta get plenty of sleep at the moment for health reasons. _

_WARNING: There's a couple of swears in this chapter, more than I've had for a while. So sorry about that, it just seemed fitting. _

_Thank you to everybody who has reviewed this story so far! I checked my hits and stuff today and I was shocked at how many people have actually read. If you could drop me a review to let me know what you think of the chapter it would be really helpful :)_

_Hope you enjoy the chapter!_

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Chapter 8**

"…_we'll discuss what we spoke about earlier; Reno's loyalty."_

Rude thought about this small prospect as he made his way towards Reno's office. He had questions about the redhead's loyalty himself, he contemplated bitterly, but he knew he had to take Tseng's request seriously. He couldn't really understand though how he could investigate such a thing though, when he hardly knew the man or the situation he was in. Reno and this Damien went way back; Rude knew that much. And Reno shot this other Shin-Ra employee, Carrie, to save his own hide. Something didn't seem quite right about that.

Dreading slightly what was about to come, Rude slowly opened Reno's office door. His partner was sitting at his desk, his paperwork thrown aside, tapping idly on the desk. His cell phone was lying in front of him.

"Oh." he said, looking up almost disappointedly. "You're back. Have a fun talk with Tseng, did you?"

"Hmph." Rude sighed heavily in response. There was an air of sadness about the redhead's voice that made the bald Turk feel a little uncomfortable. Reno tapped a button on his phone in a defeated fashion, and then listened as the call clicked straight over to answer phone.

"_We are unable to connect your call to-"_

"Fuck sake." Reno slammed the phone shut and pulled his paperwork in front of him, although it was quite obvious he had no intentions of doing it.

"Who are you trying to call?" Rude asked. Reno looked shell-shocked for a moment, then narrowed his eyes.

"No one."

"You're keeping a lot of things from me, Reno." Rude said quietly. "It doesn't help me do my job properly."

"Oh, yeah?" Reno looked strangely amused. "What job is that? Spying on me…?" he laughed, probably at the expression on Rude's face. "Yeah, I know all about your little task. So lemme tell ya this; ya can look into my loyalty all ya want, but ya won't find nothin' on me. All I've done has been completely justified."

"Why did you shoot her then?" Rude asked. The bemused expression on the smaller man's face told Rude he hadn't every conversation he and Tseng had had.

"What?"

"Carrie. You shot Carrie, didn't you?" Rude stared determinedly at Reno, but the latter did not look back. He stared at his cell phone and shook his head silently.

"Don't mess in things ya know nothin' about." Reno suddenly shot Rude a warning glare, but the bald Turk ignored it.

"I know nothing because you're telling me nothing. I want to know." he said confidently. "What happened?"

"Fine…" Reno picked his cell phone up and practically tossed it into his draw, resulting in a worrying bang. "Ya wanna know everything?"

Rude didn't reply, but his eyes were locked with Reno's. He almost didn't dare blink in case he missed one of the redhead's actions. Finally, Reno spoke.

"I shot Carrie. But only because I had to. I didn't have a choice." he said lowly.

"You always have a choice. You hurt her to save yourself."

"What?!" the anger came right through in Reno's voice. "You don't even know her, what do ya care?"

"I care because I want to know what the odds are of you doing the same to me."

Reno laughed breathlessly and stood up. "More like Tseng wants to know. You two are so similar, it's ridiculous." Rude noted the strange look of amusement and anger he was being given. "And for the record, you can tell Tseng it wasn't _my _skin I was savin'."

"Whose then?"

"None of your business." Rude could see that Reno's hands were shaking as he lay them on his desk. "I was repaying a debt to someone. That's all you need to know."

"And that debt involved attempted murder?" Rude's patience was getting shorter and shorter. He was trying to get answers from his partner, but he wasn't letting anything on. There was something big that Reno was hiding.

"Fuck this." Reno slammed his hand down on the desk in a similar way he had done in Tseng's office earlier that day. "I don't have to listen to this. It's completely irrelevant to the missions we're doin' and that's what should be important to you; not my personal life."

At that, after a strange movement in his hands that Rude assumed was to stop the shaking, Reno gathered his nerves and stalked out of the office slamming the door behind him. Just when Rude had thought he'd heard the last of Reno's yelling, he was instantly proven wrong.

"And you can _fuck _off." he yelled loudly. Rude hadn't been aware of any people talking in the corridors outside until all traces of other people's voices had obviously vanished. Right on cue, Tseng entered the office, looking sullen.

"I'm sorry about that." Tseng said quickly. He put a handful of wires onto the desk Rude was sitting at. "I should have realized that would happen."

"What-?" Rude studied the wires sceptically.

"He bugged my office. He heard everything we said. You can say what you want about his attitude, but he is certainly light-fingered. _I_ didn't even notice." Tseng took the wires back and slipped them into his pocket. "I heard shouting; did you manage to get anything out of him?"

Rude shook his head. "Not much. I don't think he's a traitor… but he's hiding something."

"Tell me something I _don't _know." Tseng sighed. "I wasn't anticipating anything like this until after I talked to you. But now we're going to get nothing from him."

"Sorry." Rude muttered.

"Nobody is to blame. It's just an unfortunate situation we've found ourselves in. Now we have ourselves _another _little problem…" Tseng placed a file Rude had never noticed before onto his desk. "I had Sharon and Benjamin do a little prowling around Sector 7 this morning, they noticed some suspicious activity around a particular warehouse. Since that's where Reno used to live, I think it needs checking out."

"Yes, sir…" Rude said, slightly unsure.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to go alone. I want you to go with Benjamin and Sharon." Tseng took two small pistols out of his pockets and put them down on Rude's desk. "Take these. I know you're a fist fighter, but they might come in handy."

"What about Reno?"

"Well… Sector 7 is where he last saw Carrie." Tseng said gravely. "I think if Reno is seen in Sector 7 again he'll be killed."

"I see…" Rude glanced at the file briefly, before looking back up at Tseng expectedly.

"Okay… if Reno sees you three, there's a good chance he'll try and follow you, especially as you're going to Sector 7. If he does, whatever you do, make sure he doesn't get seen."

Rude nodded, allowing his mind to absorb all this information. Tseng seemed desperate to keep Reno alive, which was understandable; but Rude didn't understand why his superior acted like Reno couldn't look after himself.

"Equally important - and here's where it get's tricky - I don't want you to be seen either. Damien and his comrades know the Turks are after them, and they know what they're looking out for. All three of you will need to change into everyday clothes."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now head back to your apartment to change; I've told Sharon and Benjamin to meet you there."

Without waiting for a response, Tseng made to exit the office, leaving Rude slightly bewildered by all that had happened. With so long without any missions at all, two in one day was slightly mind-blowing.

"And Rude…" Tseng opened the office door, and looked at his employee seriously. "_Please _don't mess this up. Not that I doubt you; it's just we can't afford any more mistakes on the Turks record. Good luck."

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_**A/N: **Yay! I'm including the random OC's I added at the beginning of the story. I'll try a little in the next chapter to develop their characters, 'cause they're kinda vital to the plot. Also, I apologize for the lack of Elena in this story so far, especially since it's supposed to be a RenoxElena. I haven't forgotten about her, but I can't introduce her back just yet. I have kinda said why in a previous chapter, but that depends on whether it was blatant enough to understand. Aaaanyway, thanks a bunch for reading, lemme know what you thought :)_


	9. Treachery

_**A/N: **I'm so sorry this took so long to put up. I had it ready like, three weeks ago, but my phone line was struck by lightning, and we've had no internet for more than three weeks. I know, it sounds pretty unbelievable, but there ya go, that's my luck :) Anyway, I'm on my friend's laptop right now, coz it still hasn't been fixed. So I'll be slow at updating for a while until it's fixed. Hopefully it won't be too long though, so don't worry :)_

_Anyway, as I had extra time, I actually went back and improved this chapter. It's a lot longer as well to make up for the wait. I'm actually really proud of it to be honest, even though the beginning is kinda slow. But yeah, I think it's pretty good :) Quite a bit happens in this chapter, so the plot progresses quite a bit. I hope you all like it as much as I do! Let me know if you liked it. Thanks so much for everyone that's reviewed so far, I love you guys of course, you're all really encouraging. Keep up the good work!_

_Enjoy!_

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Chapter 9**

Finding something inconspicuous to wear was a hard task for Rude. Most of his recently moved wardrobe consisted of trousers and shirts of some sort, but he knew he couldn't look official. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that he stood out quite a lot anyway, mainly because of his size. Sighing, he settled on an old pair of blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He put them on and studied the results in the mirror, satisfied that he looked at least slightly less obvious that he had done before.

Just in the nick of time, there was a swift rapping on Rude's apartment door, and then the sound of a squeaking hinge as what Rude hoped was his two team-mates entered the building. Even though he was sure of who it was, Rude couldn't help to tense up.

"Rude?" came a woman's voice. Rude relaxed slightly as he recognized Sharon's curt tone, and made his way out into the hall way.

The two other Turks looked very acceptable in Rude's opinion, wearing normal civilian clothes. Sharon looked Rude up and down, and frowned.

"What?" Rude said defensively. He didn't like the way she was looking at him.

"Not bad. But I think you could lose the sunglasses." she said finally. Rude frowned, not impressed by this conclusion. Sharon obviously noticed his reluctance and reached up, pulling the sunglasses from his face. Even though they were inside, the swift change in the amount of light entering his eyes was quite painful. He really didn't like it, but he knew that Sharon was probably right. Looking in the mirror again, he saw that without his sunglasses he did look completely unrecognizable as a Turk.

"Much better." Sharon smiled cheerily and turned to Benjamin. "Are we ready to go then?"

* * *

They were to take the train to Sector 7. Understandably of course, it would be much less obvious who they were if they just blended in with the train passengers. Rude thought he saw a few people staring as they boarded the train, but it could have just been his nervous mind playing tricks on him.

For some reason, Rude was extremely anxious about this mission. He just had a feeling that something very bad was going to happen. Maybe it was because he suspected Damien and all his men were lurking around every corner in Sector 7, maybe it was because he didn't actually know _what _to expect through his lack of information. Maybe it was both. Rude had the strangest feeling that he was delving too much into Reno's past though by going back to the one place were most of his childhood had apparently taken place, even though he had no choice.

The train journey was short and easy, just how Rude had hoped it would be. Of course, that was the easy part. As casually as they could given the anxiety this important mission created, the three Turks stepped off the train onto the platform. Their surroundings looked just like the rest of the slums in Midgar; dark, gray and gloomy. It was odd though, because it looked a lot more deserted than the rest of the slums. There were very few people wondering around, and those who were just hurried along, saying nothing to anyone else. It was practically silent.

"It's quiet, isn't it?" Ben said lowly, as though reading Rude's mind. The bald Turk nodded.

"Well, come on." Sharon said dominatingly. "Let's get on with it."

Ignoring the twinge of annoyance that Sharon's controlling voice caused, Rude nodded and scanned his surroundings. If Tseng's information was correct, the warehouse would just be somewhere around the corner. Sharon seemed bent on leading the way however, so Rude and Ben grudgingly followed her.

Every part of the Sector 7 slums seemed to be the same; it was so deserted. After a few moments of walking, the three disguised Turks turned a corner, only to be greeting by a huge, dominating building. The warehouse.

"There." Sharon whispered almost proudly. "Now, how to infiltrate…"

"Around the back." Rude said sharply, slightly annoyed with Sharon taking charge of the situation. "It's a warehouse, there'll be an entrance around the back."

"Surely there's just as much chance that we'll get caught around the back?" Ben suggested. "There'll be people using every entrance."

"True…" Rude muttered. "But there aren't many people around anyway. And people outside are more likely to be lurking around the front."

"I suppose the back entrance won't lead directly into the busiest part of the building…" Ben nodded in agreement. Their hushed conversation came to an end and the three of them cautiously made their way around the back of the gargantuan building. Sharon looked slightly put out at not having a say in their plan, but Rude ignored it. She felt a strange sense of pride knowing that he and Ben had taken control for the first time.

There was only one problem with their mission. Tseng, unable to send Reno or Carrie, had used three rookies. Three Turks who had no real experience in such situations. Rude cursed himself a few seconds after they had walked around the corner, and wished that he had looked before he'd done so.

Standing right outside the back exit Rude had hoped would be there, were no less than 10 large men, all clothed from head to toe in black. They all instantly looked at the three Turks as they came to an abrupt stop. Another big mistake. The obvious look of horror on their faces made them extremely vulnerable.

"Who goes there?" one of the men shouted, stopping about 10 feet short of where Rude was standing.

Nobody seemed sure what to say, until Sharon exhaled sharply and shouted. "Run!"

Rude instantly saw the idiocy of this plan, as most of the men started to run towards them. He heard the two Turks behind him began to run, but then Sharon screeched slightly, making Rude turn around.

"Ya won't be goin' anywhere." a hooded figure had come out of nowhere and had grabbed both Ben and Sharon by their collars. The new arrival sounded familiar, but his head was turned slightly to the side, so Rude couldn't properly see his appearance. "There's no need to make a fuss here now, is there?"

The man pushed the two Turks forwards, and swaggered past Rude towards the closest of the warehouse guards. The hood of his jacket shadowed his face, but Rude could see he was grinning. Slowly, he put his arm around the shoulder of the guard.

"Who are you?" the guard asked.

"Just look at 'em." the mystery man gestured towards the Turks and laughed slightly. "Clearly just kids messin' 'round here. No need to scare 'em, is there?"

"Hey…" the guard tried to pull away but the hooded man, but he had a tight grip on his shoulder. "I recognize you…"

"_Do _ya now?" the man laughed and moved his arm swiftly upwards, and in one sweeping movement he twisted the man's neck around, breaking it instantly. The guard dropped to the floor, dead.

Obviously, this hasty murder caused much of a stir amongst the other guards. Almost straight away they all ran towards toward the mysterious man, whom instantly kicked into action. He turned around and threw his fist towards the person nearest to him. As soon as he heard the sickening crunch of bone on bone, Rude felt certain that whoever this stranger was, he was on there side. There was definitely something familiar about him, but Rude couldn't place it. Nor did he had the time, he decided as he threw his first punch at the enemy. It made contact with a satisfying thud, and the man stumbled backwards. He saw a red and orange flash ahead of him as Benjamin began casting spells as powerful as he could manage, and then he heard a bang; presumably the work of Sharon's pistol. Although he didn't really have time to notice what his comrades were doing, he did see the strange man hurry over to the back door to the warehouse, hitting various people clumsily as he went, and kick the door closed. Rude was slightly unsure as to why he had done this, but his train of though quickly reverted as he felt someone else's fist slam into his jaw. It disorientated him for a moment, but he quickly regained his balance, and mimicking the stranger, he grabbed the guard by the neck and twisted sharply. With a groan of pain, he fell to the ground, instantly dead.

It didn't take long for the three Turks and their mysterious helper to defeat the guards, and the fact that no more came answered Rude's question to why the stranger slammed the door shut. Nobody seemed to have heard their struggle. The only problem now was that Rude wasn't sure if they had an alternative way in. That door had been a fire exit, and so impossible to open from the outside.

The stranger pulled his hood further over his head consciously, and motioned for the Turks to follow him. Rude did so, albeit cautiously, and couldn't help but notice the curious way the stranger acted. His actions were rigid and forced, and even his voice sounded very put on. They were lead around another corner where a perfectly normal looking door was situated. There was no sign of any other guards, much to Rude's relief.

"Who are you?" Sharon demanded suddenly from the man. He laughed and shrugged.

"Nobody important, trust me." he said in an overly monotone voice.

"Well, whatever. Let's go." Sharon moved forwards and put her hand on the door, intending to open it, but jumped when the stranger clapped a hand on her wrist.

"I'm afraid I can't let ya do that." he said sadly. Then, completely out of nowhere, he shouted. "Bolt."

The spell must have affected all three of them, as pain suddenly racked Rude's limbs. The electricity that ran through his body caused all of his muscles to spasm, until his body couldn't take anymore. Just before he blacked out, he caught sight of their attackers face properly. There was no mistaking those shining aqua eyes and red tattooed cheekbones.

'_Reno…' _Rude's surrendering mind was suddenly filled with anger. How could he have not realized? It didn't explain why he was attacking them however. Just as thoughts of actually strangling his apparently treacherous partner entered his head, his whole world went black.

* * *

He felt liked his whole body was on fire. Rude groaned heavily and opened his stinging eyes. The first things he noticed through his blurred vision was that the door to the warehouse was wide open, and Reno had vanished. Seconds later, he heard Sharon's painfully winy voice crying out from behind him.

"Who the _hell _was that?" she said. "What a bastard; he needs to get his head straight. As if he would attack the guards _and _us."

Rude struggled to his feet, despite his exhausted and pained muscles, and turned to face the other two, who were sitting up, but still on the floor.

"Give it a rest, Sharon…" Ben rubbed his eyes with his shaky hand. "Whoever they were, they were against the people that run this warehouse, and against us. It's simple."

"He wasn't against us." Rude said, cringing slightly at the silence that followed. All eyes fell on him.

"What makes you so sure?" Sharon got her feet, as did Ben. "He _did _just try to kill us."

"No. That wasn't a powerful spell." Rude was just about to speak but Ben beat him to it. "Either he was weak with magic, or he just wanted to slow us down."

"He wanted to slow us down." Rude found himself saying. Although his was terribly suspicious of his partner now, there was still a large part of his mind that didn't believe Reno would turn against Shin-Ra. There was a reason for what he did, but Rude didn't know what it was as of yet.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this, Rude…" Sharon stepped in front of, her arms crossed and her face filled with suspicion. "What aren't you telling us?"

"C'mon…" Ben put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's not fall out. We need to complete the mission. I'm sure Rude will tell you what you want to know later."

"But what do we do now?" Sharon dropped her offensive stance and turned to Ben. "That guy might ruin this. Who knows what he's doing in there?"

"Let's go." Rude said, slightly proud of the fact that he could naturally take control of the situation. "He won't interfere; we need to finish the mission."

Rude didn't expect there to be anybody there when they first entered the building, in fact, he suspected that they wouldn't actually meet anybody until they were quite far inside the building. Sure enough, inside, there was not a soul to be seen. There was not much light, but Rude could see that the guards that _had _been there, Reno had taken care of. In a way, the redhead's unexpected appearance was helpful to them. He could only imagine how confused Benjamin and Sharon were, as they had no idea who their mission's intruder was, but Rude figured now was not a very appropriate time to explain.

Even though there was no one there, the Turks wanted to make sure they were safe, and so kept to the very edges of the large room they were in, hidden in the shadows, to see if they could find any doorways. Eventually, when they were half way around the room, they came to a very long metal stairway. In the dim light of the reddish lights above them, Rude could see that although the wrought-iron stairs were worn, they looked fairly sturdy. As quietly as they could, they began to climb.

The atmosphere didn't seem to change much as they got to the first floor of the warehouse. Almost directly ahead of them was a dark doorway, and there were several more down a corridor parallel to the stairway.

They would have been clueless as to where to go if it hadn't been for a very small light source being turned on in about the third door down. It looked to Rude like it was a torch. Slowly, and obeying Sharon's completely unnecessary shushing motion, the three of them moved carefully up towards this doorway, with the blond woman leading. When they were standing practically next to the entrance, Sharon turned around and mouthed 'wait here' at them. Rude gritted his teeth, but did as he was told. He, and apparently Ben, had decided there was no point in arguing.

What Sharon did next however, Rude did not expect. Before he could stop her, she raised her pistol, aimed hastily, and fired. A fraction of a second later, it became obvious who the poor, unsuspecting victim was.

"Ya stupid _bitch!_" came a yell from inside the room. Rude looked at Ben and nodded, and the two of them hurried inside.

The flashlight that Reno had been holding was now on the floor, because the hand holding it was now grasping the opposite arm. Blood was pouring through his fingers, but it wasn't too strong a flow; Sharon had obviously hit somewhere near the edge of his arm. Still cursing, Reno walked over to where Rude was standing, and reached behind him, flicking a light switch. The sudden change in light hurt Rude's eyes, especially without his sunglasses, but he didn't need to see to know what was going on.

"What the _hell_ did ya do that for?" Reno hissed at Sharon, despite the fact he had never met her before in his life. "Ya callin' yaself a Turk, and ya just shoot at random people when ya can't even _see_?"

Sharon's face reddened. "W-what do you know?" she stuttered.

"Sweetheart, give it a rest…" Reno lifted his hand to check his arm, only to see it was still bleeding. His voice sounded very pained. "_I'm _a Turk."

"Well, _you _call yourself a Turk… why the hell did you attack us outside!? And why are you sneaking around with the lights off. That was completely _not _my fault."

"Perfectly good reasons for all those things." Reno shook his hood of his head, revealing his trademark hair, and reached behind him with the shaking hand of his shot arm. He picked up 3 small white boxes, and slipped them into his pocket. "But now ain't the time."

"Are you okay?" Rude asked, looking the redhead straight in the eye. His partner's gaze rested on him, and for a moment, his eyes showed nothing but anger. It quickly faded however when he realized Rude was genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine. Come on, let's get back." Reno finally let go of his arm, and wiped the blood of onto his shirt.

"But we haven't completed the mission…" Sharon complained.

"There ya go, I done it for ya." Reno said quickly. "There's nothing here."

"What?" Sharon was quite clearly not liking the redhead's attitude.

"It's abandoned. This warehouse manufactured _medical _drugs." The emphasis the redhead put on the word 'medical' was slightly worrying. "The guy behind it is dead. I killed him myself."

"When?"

Reno looked seriously at Sharon and sighed. "A long time ago. I killed him on a mission I did with someone a lot less annoying than you."

"So what? That's it then?" Ben decided to chip in the conversation now. "And if this place is abandoned, why was it so heavily guarded?"

"To throw us off where they're really hidin'." Reno looked thoughtful for a moment. "There's a lot of guys behind this drug's heist thing… and that's what we're tryin' to do; find out who they are."

"So why hasn't Tseng told us exactly what we're doing?" Sharon asked. Rude however, already knew the answer.

"Because he don't know what's goin' on. As much as ya probably gonna hate it, I'm in charge o' this." Reno flashed her a grin, but she didn't look impressed. "Anyway, there's nothin' here. There's only one room that could possibly have any useful information, and I've checked through it. We're lookin' for a woman called Ria Hayler. There ain't no mention of her anywhere here."

"This is too small-time." Rude found himself thinking suddenly. Reno's sarcastic mention of the word 'medical' got him thinking. Any place that claimed to do medical drugs would not get away with anything big time. Shin-Ra were looking into the theft of mako, which was much more upscale.

"Precisely, partner." Reno smiled at Rude, ignoring the look Sharon gave him. "And 'sides. Take a lot around, there's no trace of mako anywhere."

Sharon seemed to finally give in, and did an about-face, leaving the room. Despite the pain that he was obviously in, Reno smirked and picked up his flashlight. Rude turned out the light, and Reno lead the way out of the warehouse.

* * *

"I still don't get why we didn't look around more thoroughly…"

By the time they got outside, Sharon seemed to have gotten over the humilation of losing an argument, and had picked the subject up again. Reno sighed and turned to her.

"Okay, before I answer that… can I borrow anyone's jacket? People are startin' to look at me funny." Reno looked self-consciously around, trying to ignore the people staring at his bleeding arm. Ben obliged, and pulled of his dark gray jacket, handing it to Reno. He put it on and pulled the hood back up over his head, presumably to hide his hair. It was a little too big for him, he definitely looked a lot more inconspicuous. "…Right, what was I sayin'?" he paused for a moment, before carrying on walking. "Oh yeah… we didn't look around, 'cause we're workin' on a tight time frame. Dunno what Tseng's told ya 'bout this, but we're lookin' for stolen papers as well, regardin' the reactor in Junon. Obviously at any time, people could cause an awful lotta trouble. I don't see that place as suspicious, so we're better of startin' our search somewhere else. The time we waste searchin' an unsuspicious place coulda been spent doin' somethin' useful. Does _that_ answer ya question?"

From Sharon's frustrated silence, Rude guessed the answer was 'yes'. He was a little amused by Reno's outburst; it was quite clear that Sharon was already starting to tick him off, but at the same time, he was concerned. He didn't know what Tseng would say once he found out Reno had come with them, but there had been nothing he could have done. What worried him more though was Reno himself. Although Rude wasn't too concerned about the wound on his arm; it seemed fairly superficial and his voice didn't sound too distant, he was anxious about what the redhead had actually been doing in the building, and why he had been so desperate to get there before them.

* * *

_**A/N: **As you can hopefully see, this chapter kinda brings back in the relevance of Lithium's main storyline. I'll be developing it a lot more in the next few chapters. Hope you enjoyed it, please drop a review :)_


	10. Reunited

_**A/N: **Yay an update! I'm sorry but at the moment I can only update once a week when I get the internet at my friend's house. Yes, my internet is STILL not fixed! Yay for me. Anywho, I tried really hard on this chapter, but it was hard to do because not much happened until the very end. I made it so this chapter kinda reminds everybody of what's been happening so far, like in Lithium. Next chapter, as you'll be able to tell from the ending, will have a lot more happening in it. _

_Also, I am aware that some of you may be a little 'WTH where's Elena? Why isn't she here yet?' but I still PROMISE she will come in soon. Within the next couple of chapters actually, and she will be in it a lot. So yay for Elena!_

_So... I hope you all enjoy the chapter, drop me a review to let know if you liked it. I love you all so much, thankyou!!! ~_

**

* * *

Chapter 10**

"Reno… did you follow the other three to Sector 7?" Tseng paced up and down his office in front of the four other Turks present in his office.

"Followed is such a precise word, don't ya think? I prefer to say we casually met up…" Reno's voice had a mocking tone, but his head was turned slightly to the side, and he was looking down, as though he didn't want to look Tseng in the eyes. He knew he was in trouble. As soon as they had returned from their mission, a woman in the reception area had given Reno a nervous glance, before informing them that Tseng wanted them in his office as soon as they returned. Their superior was quite clearly not impressed.

"Don't mess around, Reno." he said commandingly. "I purposely sent these three alone. You could have gotten yourself killed. Why did you go?"

"Well, I didn't get myself killed, did I?" The redhead finally lifted his gaze up to his superior, but Rude knew the only reason was that Tseng was trying his patience. "Not that _that's _ever been in your list of concerns. I wanted to help, and I did. I don't see the problem."

Tseng said nothing, but he finally stopped pacing. He turned his back to his fellow Turks and sighed. "Reno… the problem is that you went against my orders. And I _do _know why."

"Why ask me then?" Reno began to fidget awkwardly inside his pockets. "By the way, good choice of new Turks. They did great except nearly killing me."

On those words, Rude could somehow sense the redhead snap. He shot one last glare at Tseng and stormed out of the office, like he seemed to have done so many times already. The rest of them were left in a stunned silence.

"I apologize for that." Tseng bowed his head slightly and looked at the remaining three Turks. "Now then, tell me… did you find anything in the warehouse?"

"Reno beat us there, sir." It was inevitable that Sharon would pipe up first. "He knocked us all out with a spell and went inside. He informed us that there was nothing there."

"I see… did he have anything to base these ideas on? Or did he tell you it was _instinct_?" Rude could see a muscle twitch in Tseng's jaw as he uttered sarcasm to rival Reno's.

"No, sir." Sharon explained quickly, as though scared that Tseng would blow up at her. "He said there was no signs of the person he was looking for. He mentioned a name… Hayler, I think."

"Reno…" Tseng sighed loudly. "He's always purposely one step ahead. It's as though he doesn't actually _want _any help with these missions."

"Well… surely he can't do them alone?" Ben asked nervously. Tseng shook his head.

"No, he can't." He sighed, and began to rummage around in his desk drawer. "But unfortunately, if we_ were _to get involved, we'd be prying too much into his personal business."

"But _what _are we prying into?" Rude asked. He grimaced at the slight shock that filled the room because of his sudden change in attitude, but he ignored it. "I know you must know something we don't, sir."

Tseng looked at Rude interestedly for a moment, before a small smile formed on his face. "Well, Rude… what makes you think that?"

"He's very bitter towards you, sir."

All of a sudden, Tseng looked very amused. He turned to Sharon and Benjamin. "This is something for the partner's ears only. I'm very sorry, you two, but over time, you'll get to know everything, I'm sure."

"Yes, sir." Sharon and Benjamin said simultaneously. They turned to leave, Ben patting Rude on the shoulder as he did so.

"That was a very good observation you've made, Rude." Tseng ran a hang through his sleek black hair and smiled again. "You're right… Reno is a very easy-going person, as I'm sure you've realized from the time you've spent with him. It's only natural for you to be curious about the constant negativity that he shows me. You see, half of the reason is me originally employing him as disposable labour, and the other half is the reason why I employed him."

"Disposable labour?"

"That leads me to the reason why I employed him." at those words, Tseng's expression just fell. This was obviously a subject he was not happy to talk about, but Rude let him. "I wanted him because of information I thought I'd be able to get out of him. You see, he was involved in the drug's industry… more on the receiving end of it, I'm afraid to say."

"Receiving end? You mean he's a drug addict?" A sudden nausea rose in the back of Rude's throat. For some reason, despite the obvious clues he seemed to have looked over before, this news came as a massive shock.

"All I can say is he _was. _I can't even say that, to be honest. I don't know him well enough. I know he took drugs, and I know he had to kill his dealer. That's all I know… as for now… well, I have no idea what's going on inside his head."

Rude thought back to their previous warehouse mission, and the little white boxes Reno had stashed in his pocket. He felt sick just imagining it. Growing up in Midgar, of course there were drugs everywhere. But Rude had never known anyone affected by drugs, let alone one so young. Even though he knew he should mention the white boxes to Tseng, something in his instinct told him not to. For some reason, his loyalties laid with partner, whom now Rude was feeling immense pity for.

Rude looked up at Tseng, who was sure he had picked up on the emotion in his face. However, he passed it off, and began to speak again. "You see… when I asked you to help me look into Reno's loyalty, it was more a case of whether he's still struggling with his past."

"But that's a completely different thing." Rude stated. "How was I supposed to pick up on his feelings by looking at his loyalty?"

"Because if he's still struggling with drugs, it's likely he will mess up. I assumed anyone looking in from the outside would take that as treachery." Tseng explained. "It's important that we know, not just for his welfare, but for the welfare of the company itself. I was just trying to be discreet to save Reno his dignity."

"I see."

"So, Rude… do you think that you will be able to help me figure this out?" Tseng shook his ebony hair out of his eyes and looked at the bald Turk seriously.

"Yes, sir."

Tseng looked slightly relieved for a moment, but then his eyes narrowed again. "Let me say, you don't have to help me. If you feel like you can't-"

"No. It's fine, sir."

"Okay." Tseng nodded gratefully. "You cannot tell Reno any of this. All I want you to do is befriend him, get him to trust you. It sounds like I'm asking you to be deceitful, but I do genuinely want you and Reno to get along. You have to put up with each other for the rest of your lives after all."

"Yes, sir."

Rude took the silence that followed as a chance to reflect on what he had to do. Tseng had tried to make it seem like he didn't want Rude to force the bond of trust between himself and Reno, but the bald Turk definitely felt like he would have to. All his experiences so far of Reno hadn't exactly made a fantastic impression on Rude. He was hotheaded, impatient and quite irritating. It was saying something that Rude, a generally very quiet person, had to bite his tongue when he was around him. Rude had to admit though, it might make some difference now that Tseng had shone a little light on the situation. Just as Tseng looked about ready to dismiss him, something clicked in Rude's mind.

"Sir… is Reno a child from the Slums?" He remembered that painful smack to the face he had received after their first mission as he had talked about the girl he had killed from the slums.

Tseng hesitated, and his gaze fell awkwardly on somewhere behind Rude. "Yes…" he said quietly. "Sector 7 slums. He had lived there all his life."

"I see." The familiar nauseous feeling rushed through Rude again. Reno had basically said that girl from the slums was better off dead, because her life would be hell. Rude couldn't help but wonder whether Reno felt that way about himself. That thought, combined with his knowledge of the drugs was altogether quite worrying. Perhaps these were things he ought to be telling Tseng about, but for some reason he couldn't.

Suddenly, his gaze still settled on behind Rude, Tseng jumped to his feet and made his way to the door. "And unless I've very much mistaken, a certain someone is hiding just behind my door." he said loudly, pulling the door open. Just like Tseng apparently expected, Reno was standing there, leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets. "Do you have nothing better to do than loiter around outside my door?" he asked him, smiling slightly.

"Apparently not." Reno said. His voice was distinctly calmer that it had been earlier. He smiled sarcastically and walked casually into his superior's office. "I wanted the paperwork."

"It's not like you to want paperwork." Tseng said, picking up the small wad of papers on his desk and handing them to Reno.

"Oh, I just got bored." the redhead rolled his eyes. "_They've _been buggin' me since they escaped from here." He put on a silly, high-pitched voice. "_'When do we have to do the paperwork?' 'What kinda thing will we have to put because of injuries?'_ I didn't know two people could be so annoying."

"Are you volunteering to go through it with them?" Tseng smiled.

"Hell, no." Reno smirked and looked at Rude. "My partner here'll get a nice tutorial though, since I was supposed to help him before, and I got… sidetracked."

"Yes… oh, Reno; let me see your arm." Tseng said suddenly, grabbing hold of Reno's wrist.

"Why?" the redhead demanded, pulling away.

"Because I want to see it." the reply was sharp. Reno did not seem like he was going to give in.

"But it's right at the top… I'd have to take my shirt half off!" he protested.

"So? You've got nothing we haven't seen before… at least I hope so."

Reno pouted slightly, but then rolled his eyes and apparently gave in. He unbuttoned his shirt roughly and pulled his arm out. Rude could see the wound looked a lot worse than it was because it hadn't been cleaned up, and there was blood running down his arm. Now that Rude could actually see him without his strangely baggy shirt, it was shocking how thin he was.

"Superficial." Tseng concluded finally, letting go of Reno's arm.

"I _know…_" the redhead whined as he put his shirt back on. He seemed to struggle, probably because the shirt was damp and sticky. "That's why I never said nothin'"

"You still have to go and get that bullet removed." Tseng seemed somewhat disturbed by Reno's arm for some reason, and Rude couldn't work out why. "Right." Tseng tapped Reno gently on the shoulder. "Give Sharon and Benjamin their papers, and tell them I'll go through it with them. I'll be with them in a minute… you can take Rude through it in a moment. He'll meet you in your office. Until then, you can go to the infirmary to get that arm sorted out."

"Why ain't he comin' with me now?" Reno asked. He had a look of knowledgeableness that worried Rude slightly.

"Because I'm not done talking to him." The reply was blunt; Tseng was clearly not going to take any more of Reno's prying. "Now, go."

"Yes, _sir._" Reno saluted mockingly and strode out of the office. Almost instantly, his head popped around the door again. "Would you like me to close your door, _sir_?"

"No, thank you, Reno."

It was quite odd in Rude's opinion how no matter what mood Reno was in, it was still easy to sense his bitterness towards his superior. What was weirder was how quickly the redhead's moods actually changed. One moment, he was just about ready to snap, and the next he was joking around. Rude couldn't help but wonder on what occasions, if any, he had been under the influence of drugs.

"That way we'll be able to see if he's eavesdropping." Tseng said, watching as Reno departed. "Anyway, I just wanted to say not to worry. He didn't hear anything important."

"It did cross my mind, sir." Rude confirmed.

"I saw him walk past through the crack in the door." Tseng's voice went vague for a moment as he stared past Rude's head again. "Anyway, I want you to go to Reno's office, and don't forgot what I've asked you to do."

"Yes, sir." Rude stood up to leave.

"And Rude…" The ebony haired man called after him. "_Try _not to lose your temper with him."

* * *

Rude's steps pounded the floor as he hurried along, trying to remember his way to Reno's office. As he rushed around the first corner however, it became apparent that he didn't have to.

"Hey, partner. Thought I'd wait for ya." Reno stood, leaning against the wall with all the papers still in his hand. He held them up. "Already given the chumps theirs. Ain't been to the infirmary yet, I'll go when we've finished. It's not like it hurts much anyway; not as much as this paperwork is gonna."

Rude frowned slightly at his partners unnecessarily insulting of the other rookies, but nodded all the same. Smiling slightly, Reno led the way.

"So…" Rude knew what was coming; the reason why Reno had waited for him. "What did Tseng chat to ya about?"

"He asked me how I was finding it being your partner." Rude said. He figured if he was going to lie, he might as well make it believable.

"Oh, yeah?" The redhead seemed to buy it, but he looked slightly amused for some reason. "What'd'ya say?"

"Demanding, stressful and… interesting."

"Hmph, that's me in a nutshell, ain't it partner?" Reno laughed as they approached his office. His hand rested briefly on the handle before he looked back at Rude. "You ever get the feeling that something really, _really _bad is about to happen?"

Rude nodded as Reno turned the handle and opened the door. In this instance, Reno might not have been correct with the 'bad' part, but something was definitely about to happen.

Sat in Reno's chair was a young woman, probably around 20 years old, with long blond hair pushed back in a black bandana. Her face showed evidence of recent bruising, and she had a slightly drawn look, as though she had recently been ill.

"Hello, Reno." she said quietly. There was a small, satisfied smile on her face.

Reno however, did not look as pleased at the meeting as the woman did. His face had gone sheet white, and his mouth was slightly open. It was odd to see him lost for words. Eventually, he managed to stutter something out. "C-Carrie?"

* * *

_**A/N: **There ya gooo!! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm sorry most of this chapter is speech, but it's not like my chapters are usually mostly speech anymore. It just couldn't be helped! I can't wait to write the next chapter, it's gonna be interesting. Feel free to give me any suggestions or ideas, they're always appreciated. I'll see you all soon!!_


	11. The Academy

_**A/N: **IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have sent me any messages or reviews, don't worry I'm not ignoring you (talking especially to **RenoLuvver**) I only have time this week to put my update up, and that's it. I'm hoping that my internet will be up and running this week so I can update as normal again, and get my lovely reviews :) But I'm not gonna get my hopes up. _

_Well, I've had a very difficult two weeks, but I've tried really, really hard on this update. I think it runs quite smoothly, although the end of it is not a well structured as I would like. It's one of those chapters where I could have just kept writing and writing, but I was getting too tired to actually do it properly, and it was getting too long. I hope you all enjoy it as much I enjoyed writing it! And as usual, thank you for all your amazing reviews!_

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****Chapter 11**

"It's nice to see you, Reno." The woman apparently named Carrie said, standing up and walking towards Reno. The latter took a step backwards, still looking as though he'd seen a ghost.

"Nice to see you, too…" he said vaguely, staring straight at her with wide eyes. "But I didn't expect to see ya back here."

"Don't you think it's time you admitted that you need some help, here?" Carrie stopped stepping forwards, but her stare seemed to stab right through the redhead. "I don't blame you for what you did, but it didn't seem to get you anywhere, did it? Things are getting worse."

"I'm doin' fine." Reno told her. "I've just come to a slight… hurdle. I've had a breakthrough of info on the missions though, so that'll be solved in no time."

"Hurdle?" Carrie looked almost amused by this idea. "And it's not so much the missions I was talking about, although it's clear you're not managing on your own." the woman quickly pulled a white box out of her pocket and held it up to Reno, an odd-looking disappointed smile on her face. Rude recognized the box instantly, and so it told Rude one thing; this woman, Carrie, knew about Reno's problems as well. He could remember Reno mentioning that this woman had saved his life once before, so he wondered if the two things were related in any way. "I thought we'd cracked that problem ages ago… but then I guess things like are never that easy to solve."

"Gimme that." Reno snatched the box from Carrie defensively and slipped it into his pocket. Rude found it quite amazing how the redhead acted around this woman; she was the only person Rude had witnessed that would actually stand up to him… and he even listened to her.

"There have been rookie Turks employed for a reason Reno; use them. No offense…" Carrie looked at Rude apologetically, but he just waved it off. "You're taking on too much."

"How do you know how much I'm takin' on?" Reno questioned her. "You ain't even been here."

"I may not be a Turk, Reno… but I'm good enough to be one." she raised an eyebrow. Rude could tell that the atmosphere in the room was getting steadily more and more tense, but Carrie was not going to let it phase her. "Now, what are you trying to prove?"

"What?" Reno looked almost disgusted.

"There must be some reason why you won't let anyone help you with this mission." she explained. Her blue eyes shone with determination. "So now you have no choice; _I'm _helping now, and so are the rest of the Turks. You're not the only Turk."

"I didn't know how long you'd be gone… didn't even think ya were comin' back." Reno looked at the floor, suddenly unable to meet her gaze. "Damien got ya pretty bad…"

"Do you know why he beat me up?" Carrie's tone changed so suddenly it caused Reno to look straight back up at her again. "Do you?" he shook his head. Rude could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew he was about to get a lecture. "It's because he tried to get out of me what information _you _already had. I wouldn't tell him. I will always protect Shin-Ra and the Turks… that is where my loyalties lie. It's where I'll always end up going… leaving wasn't going to get me anywhere. My work was never interrupted; you should know, I gave you the name of that suspect, Meurte. What you did when you were faced with me and Damien was brave, and admirable work for a Turk. However, since then you seem to have become less admirable by the day, and I want to know why. You are amazing at what you do, but you're going to throw it all away. Incidentally, let me see your arm."

Rude watched as, just like in Tseng's office, Reno sighed and slipped his arm out of his shirt. Carrie took it, but Rude noticed her gaze did not even pass over the bullet wound at the top of his arm, but more in the middle region. She shook her head and let go, looking straight into his eyes, with a strangely intrigued expression on her face. "You might be good at your job, but you're a real idiot. You're gonna get yourself killed."

At that, Carrie left the room in a way Rude could tell almost tore Reno apart. This woman, who Rude knew the redhead had felt terrible about hurting, had just thrown their reunion completely in his face. Although the bald Turk was not completely sure what was going on, the puzzle pieces seemed to be fitting together as to enable him to get a basic picture. He also was pretty sure it had just sunk in what was so interesting about Reno's arm.

"It's not what it seems like…" Reno muttered, putting his arm back into the sleeve of his shirt impatiently. Rude was not even sure who this was aimed at, considering Carrie had already left the room. "It really isn't… if it was, this would be a hell of a lot easier…"

"Are you all right?" Rude asked. He knew he was being completely unhelpful, but he didn't really know what to say.

"Dandy." Reno said sarcastically. "In fact, fuck it. I'm goin' to the infirmary… it's startin' to get pretty painful. I'll see ya later."

Rude watched as Reno left the room, knowing that he probably had no intentions of going to the infirmary. The tension that had been present between the two old friends was too extreme for someone like Reno to just forget. Although this feud was no business of Rude's as it stood, it still put him in a slightly awkward position because he had once again been abandoned when he was supposed to be doing paperwork. Then, right on cue, a voice spoke behind him.

"I grabbed your paperwork from him before he could escape." Rude turned to see Tseng standing in the doorway, attempting the straighten out the paperwork Reno had rolled up. "I'll quickly tell you what to do, then I'll go and see Sharon and Benjamin afterward."

"Have you seen-?" Rude began. Tseng however, seemed to know exactly what was going on.

"Carrie? Yes I have…" he said, a noticeably cheerful tone in his voice. "We were very lucky that she could come back to us, but we must make sure things don't spiral out of control again."

"It seems Carrie will take care of that. _He_ seems to listen to her more than other people." Rude said. He couldn't help but smirk slightly at the expression on Tseng's face.

"Yes… Carrie and Reno spent a lot of their time together. She seems to connect to him in a way I will never be able to. I'm hoping that you can do the same. But anyway, to the point…" he put the papers sternly down on Reno's desk. "By the way, I'm not sure whether you'll get your own office, or whether they'll just move another desk into Reno's office. At the moment Sharon and Benjamin are sharing, and they're fairly happy to make that permanent."

"Okay."

"So anyway… it's very simple. Name it, date it, summarize the mission and just write down the outcome. On this occasion…" he pointed at another form. "You'll have this one to fill out. It's about injuries. It has to be done since Reno attacked you. Incidentally, who shot Reno?"

"Sharon."

"Ah…" Tseng seemed slightly disturbed by this news. "I don't claim to know a lot about what happened, but I'm guessing that was a bad move on her part."

"It was." Rude said, remembering Reno's cursing as he clutched his arm. "It shouldn't have happened, it was a mistake."

"Right." the dark haired man nodded. "You don't need to worry about that then. Reno will have to report that, and I'll talk to Sharon separately about it. Everything clear?"

"Yes, sir." Rude nodded and sat down at Reno's desk, figuring he wouldn't be back for a while. Tseng finally looked satisfied and left the office, probably in search of Sharon and Benjamin.

It was felt odd to Rude filling out all this paperwork, because it was almost like he was reliving that last mission. He had only done two missions, but neither of them had been as successful as he would have liked. He guessed that was just the life of a Turk; sometimes things went well, but sometimes, more often than not, bad things happened one after another. From the sounds of it, he wasn't alone with this feeling either. Reno had obviously not had the greatest time in his career so far and the worst was far from over.

Rude just finished writing about the lack of information there was at the warehouse, before signing it and moving onto the next form. He was unsure of what to put about Reno's attack on them, but eventually he settled on writing 'weak bolt spell used to slow us down' and leaving it at that.

Just as he was putting the lid back on his pen, he heard slightly raised voices outside, before the office door burst open right on cue. In walked Reno, followed by a slightly frazzled-looking Carrie.

"You okay?" Rude asked quickly, knowing that if he didn't ask right away, the two of them would launch into full-blown arguments straight away, and he wouldn't get a word in.

"They took the bullet out and stitched it up all right…" Reno said, rubbing his tender arm slowly. "But the bastards wouldn't get me any painkillers."

"I wonder why…" Carrie said sarcastically.

"Wow. Only 24 hours ago I missed you, and now I'm wonderin' when you're gonna leave me alone." Reno snapped at Carrie who grabbed him by his good arm and forced him to face her.

"Reno." she said loudly and obviously, as though talking to a child with A.D.H.D. "I need to tell you something. It's important. That's the main reason why I came back."

"Fine then." Reno raised his arms in defeat. "Shoot."

"I told Elena to stay away from you, or she would get hurt…" Carrie's eyes briefly filled with guilt. Elena? Rude had never heard Reno mention this name before, but then there had been many times when Reno had only given little bits of information, rather than the whole story. However, although Rude couldn't remember Elena ever being mentioned, it was obvious from the look on his face that she meant a lot to him. "You saved her skin once, by shooting me, but it was too risky to have her hanging around."

"Okay…" Reno said quietly, his voice filled with anguish. That phrase was so familiar to Rude;_ 'you saved her skin once…' _but Rude couldn't think when this subject had been brought up before. Suddenly, it clicked. The memory flooded into Rude's mind like an ocean tide coming in.

'_You can tell Tseng it wasn't _my _skin I was savin'.' _

It had suddenly become very obvious to Rude that this Elena girl was very entwined with Reno's past. And he hadn't even had to ask one question about it.

"Well… she's gone and not listened to a word I've said." Carrie said with a slightly motherly tone. "She's joined Shin-Ra Academy, and is doing everything she can to become one of the Turks. Either she's incredibly stupid, or she's very much smitten by you."

"Well, I tend to have that effect on the ladies…" Reno smirked, his attitude changing disturbingly quickly.

"This is serious, Reno." Carrie said loudly. "She's going to get herself killed. The minute Damien finds out it'll give him even more incentive to hunt her down. And it'll be _your_ fault, because _you_ got her involved in this. Do you really want that on your conscience?"

"All right, all right…" Reno said in a defeated voice. "You win. Nothing will happen to her, I'll make sure of it."

"What are you going to do? Talk her out of it?" Carrie asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.

"That girl's got a will of steel." Reno sighed. "I remember that from the first time I met her. I said that I was fine, but she was havin' none of it…" he stared straight ahead for a moment, deep in thought and obviously blissfully unaware that it seemed no one else in the room had a clue what he was talking about. "Nah… she's not gonna budge. I'll just have to keep an eye on her, that's all."

"How are you supposed to that when you've got your own job to cope with?" Carrie asked, raising an eyebrow. She seemed to be almost willing Reno to admit he needed help, but he was too stubborn. Even Rude knew he would never do that.

"I'm sorry it seems like ya been caught in the middle of every argument we've had so far…" Reno muttered to Rude. "I'll manage, don't worry. I owe her one anyway."

"You already repaid that debt, Reno. You're taking to much on yourself. I don't know what's been going on with you and this girl, but you're going to have to sort it out."

"Yeah, yeah…" Reno turned away from her and proceeding in pretending to look through some papers that were scattered across his desk. Rude saw Carrie rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to see Tseng. I'll see you later. Bye Rude."

"See you." Rude held his hand up in acknowledge of her farewell. He had to admit, he did feel slightly out of place on both occasions when Reno and Carrie had been arguing, but he found he had learned quite a lot from a conversation he hadn't been a part of. Sometimes it was easier to sit back and let others do the questioning.

"She doesn't trust me at all, does she?" Reno said, more to himself than Rude. "Ah, well." he sat down heavily on a chair on the other side of the room and looked at Rude. "You done your paperwork?"

"Yeah."

"That was quick. Who ya tryin' to impress?" Reno flashed him a smirk. "Now… I got things to do." stood up and walked over to his desk, which Rude was currently sitting at, and turned his computer on. "So you gotta budge."

"What about your paperwork?" Rude asked, standing up.

"Screw that. I got more important things to do…" The redhead sat down and typed in the password to his computer. Rude couldn't help but notice that he typed almost inhumanly quickly, his long fingers sliding across the keys with little effort or concentration. "Feel free to do it for me…"

"You know I'm not going to do that." Rude said bluntly. Apparently this news caused Reno much amusement.

"All right, fair enough. You can help me then." he said, smirking. Rude pulled up a chair and watched Reno as he pulled up a page on his computer, far too quickly for Rude to actually see where he had clicked. It was entitled 'Academy Candidates'.

"Surely you aren't supposed to have access to this file?" Rude asked, watching as Reno scrolled down the list of names in front of him.

"Nope." The redhead said simply. "But the Academy have to sent all these files of new Candidates every year to the President, and whoever is in charge of the relevant department. So for the Turks I guess it would be Veld. Any idiot can hack into a file that's sent via the internet."

"So any idiot can get this information?" Rude raised an eyebrow.

"Nah… it's not that easy I guess. It takes a special kinda idiot, like me." Reno turned and grinned at Rude, before continuing his search. "Okay… so I'm lookin' for Elena. Doesn't really help that I don't know her last name, but at least they got pictures on this thing… there she is." Reno pulled up a page which was topped with a picture of a young woman; probably a little bit younger than Reno, with deep brown eyes and short, icy blond hair. "She's cut her hair… she looks so much like Gun now…" Reno muttered. It was getting quite annoying for Rude to have to listen to the redhead talk to himself about things Rude knew nothing about.

"What exactly are you doing?" Rude asked. Reno turned sharply, as though he had just been awaken from a very deep daydream.

"I needed to find out exactly who she's studying with, and where… because I think I'm gonna be spendin' a lot of my time there."

* * *

_**A/N: **And there ya go. By the way, I've probably said this same thing in like, the past three updates, but I'm almost 100% certain that Elena will be in the next chapter. If not, definately the one after that. It's kinda obvious why anyway :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter, drop me a review and let me know if you liked it :D_


	12. Old Friends

_**A/N: **Welcome to another update! And guess what? I kept my promise. Elena is actually in this chapter! I'm actually quite proud of this chapter, it has a lot of deep foreboding stuff in it, if you look hard enough. You won't believe how long this chapter actually took me, and it's quite long to make up for my slow updating lately. _

_Also, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to **RenoLuvver**, who has been an amazing friend to me for several months, despite my constant saying I'm a bad influence on her :D It was her birthday on Tuesday, so everybody sing late happy birthday!_

_Hope you enjoy the chapter :)_

**

* * *

Chapter 12**

It didn't take long for Reno to gather all the information he needed from Elena's page, such as the pupils she was studying with and the people that were teaching her, before he erased the computer's history and shut it down. Rude felt a little awkward since Reno had said he was supposed to be helping him, but all he had done was learn a little bit about who Elena actually was. Reno didn't seem to mind though; he was too preoccupied with gathering his thoughts together, and probably working out what he was going to do. Personally, Rude couldn't see how his idea was going to work. There was no way he could give Elena practically permanent supervision, whilst trying to hold down a job himself.

"Ah-hah." Reno said suddenly, looking intently at the several bits of information he had printed off. "Gotcha." Rude didn't reply, just watched with interest as the redhead's expression suddenly became quite victorious. "Right… I got what I need. The only problem is that Tseng's not gonna go with this."

"Because of what Carrie said?" Rude asked.

"Exactly…" Reno bit his lip in thought for a moment looking very frustrated, and then unnaturally swiftly, his eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet. "Got it. C'mon."

Rude stood up without saying a word and followed the redhead out of his office, completely clueless. He was only starting to notice how strange Reno's mood swings were becoming. It seemed that although he seemed in a generally cheerful mood, he was very easy to irritate, and just as easy to swing back around again. Rude also found it odd how he seemed unable to see how his plans to keep watch over Elena were completely outrageous. However, Rude understood why Reno wanted to undertake such a task, and vowed to go along with it unless it got stupid.

"Just let me do the talkin'." Reno turned and looked at Rude seriously when they got to Tseng's office door. "This is a delicate subject."

Rude nodded as Reno opened the door without knocking, causing Tseng, who was sat at his desk working, to look up sharply.

"Made an advancement." Reno said quickly. "I've found out that Elena's enrolled in Shin-Ra Academy. She's vulnerable to anyone that wants to hurt me… so I think it could help us get information about out aspiring eco-terrorists."

"Okay…" Tseng furrowed his brow, probably trying to take this quick flow of information in. "You'll need to find out where exactly she's studying, and which team she's trying to make her way into."

"This team. And already done it." Reno said impatiently. He ran a slightly shaky hand through his hair. "Don't think I ain't already thought of all this crap. I just need your go ahead."

"You're not getting my 'go ahead' until you tell me how you got access to that information." Tseng replied. There was no trace of anger or annoyance in his voice, but his eyes, which Reno was not looking into, showed that he meant what he was saying. Rude knew that Reno constant backchat was not going down well with Tseng.

"Because I'm freakin' smart, that's how." Reno snapped, rolling his eyes and turning away. "I don't see why it matters."

"It matters because I'm your superior." Tseng said calmly.

"I don't give a damn; I'm technically Rude's superior but I don't ask him stupid questions." Reno turned back around and looked Tseng directly into the eyes for the first time since he entered the office. "I can't be bothered to go through this with ya every time I try to move forward. You know that I wouldn't go and do somethin' for no reason."

"Reno…" some sort of emotion had definitely worked it's way into Tseng's voice, but it wasn't anger. It was almost as though all of a sudden, Tseng had picked up on the emotions that had been going through Reno's mind since he had spoken to Carrie earlier. "I'm asking you these things because I know the real reason why you're going to the Academy. I wanted you to tell me."

"Hmph." Reno grunted and turned away again. The sudden concern did no seem to soften him any.

"Carrie has been to see me. She warned me this might happen." Tseng's voice stayed surprisingly placid. Reno's eyes narrowed and it was obvious he was about to argue. "Before you answer back, let me finish. You can go to the Academy, because I know you can probably get a good deal of information out of it."

"Okay…" Reno raised an eyebrow, seemingly unsure whether or not to accept this new proposal.

"Your intentions are probably correct; anybody wishing to hurt you will go for the people you care about." Tseng reassured him. Rude had to admit, it was odd to hear Tseng being so understanding when he had previously been so impatient. Reno seemed to share Rude's views as his mouth stayed slightly open and his eyes were fixed on Tseng. "But Reno, make no mistakes. As far as Heideggar and the President are concerned, the blame for all that is happening within Shin-Ra's mako reactors lies entirely on your shoulders."

"What?" Reno's voice seemed to cut straight through any pleasant atmosphere that was in the room. The tension even unnerved Rude slightly.

"That is what I have been told by President Shin-Ra. Heideggar has said that the mako theft is entirely your responsibility, but if you can't cope with fixing your own mistakes, he's willing to take things into his own hands; which will lead to hefty consequences on our part." Tseng explained reluctantly.

"Uh… what? Hold on just a second, all this shit hit the fan before I joined this freakin' team." Reno's temper seemed to have finally sparked. "All your mako was gettin' pilfered long before I had anythin' to do with this. The only thing that's happened since I got here was the Destruction Papers for the Junon Reactor bein' stolen, and how the hell is that my fault?"

"I know, I know." Tseng interrupted Reno's fast-paced rant, still with an extraordinary amount of calmness. "I know this isn't your fault, but that's not how Heideggar see's it. Because you are so involved with this drug's heist, he accuses you by association. You also have to bear in mind that I have to give the track records of any Turk to Veld and to President Shin-Ra, as well as any suspicions or worries I have. They are discussed within the Directors of each department."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Reno snapped. Rude cringed slightly at this burst of anger. He wanted desperately to interrupt and put an end to this repetitive argument, but he really had no place to say anything. It was something he knew very little about, and although he had his suspicions, he didn't want to make assumptions on such a small amount of information.

"Just letting you know." Tseng said, his voice adopting a little more curtness. His gaze flicked from looking directly into Reno's eyes down to his arm, just like he had done before. Reno rolled his eyes and laughed slightly. "If there's anything you want to share with me, it might make Heidegger a little more lenient."

"If I wanted to share anythin' with you, I would've done it long before now… trust me." Reno told him straightly. "And whatever you think is goin' on, I can guarantee you, you're wrong."

"Okay then." Tseng said, without a hint of belief in his voice. Even with the obvious mistrust in his voice, Reno did not retaliate again. "I will contact Shin-Ra Academy, lucky for you they've been after some Turks to go up there and help."

"Oh yeah?" Reno raised an eyebrow, suddenly looking slightly amused. "What for? These schoolgirls getting unruly?"

"A perverse state of mind is neither needed or wanted on this assignment, Reno." Tseng replied, looking half amused and half confused at Reno's sudden change of attitude. "They were wanting to give students a little more hands on experience-"

Tseng explanation was interrupted by a small snigger from Reno. Rude looked awkwardly from Reno to Tseng, the latter obviously having regretted his choice of phrase. Rude decided, considering he hadn't really had a part in this coversation thus far, that he ought to interject and save Tseng the trouble of scolding the redhead again.

"Presumably for sparring and weapons practise; things like that." he suggested, remembering back to his days training to become a Turk. There was always a distinct lack of proper training, except from with other rookie Turks. It was impossible to tell what skill would be needed when the time actually came and you were face to face with death.

"Yes, Rude." Tseng responded, clearly thankful for this rescue. "It just so happens that before now we couldn't spare anybody to go over and help them. But since this ties in so well with the missions this is a perfect opportunity. I'll send Benjamin and Sharon to do some patroling in different Sectors to perhaps give you some more leads."

"Fair enough." Reno shrugged, giving off an all-over 'I-don't-care-now-let-me-go' attitude. Rude frowned slightly as his redheaded partner left the office without another word. He wasn't really sure what to say, as he was trying to take in all that had just happened, but Tseng saved him the trouble of trying to break that awkward silence.

"Rude… it's more important than ever that you are very careful on this mission." Tseng said, his dark eyes glaring seriously into Rude. "I'm growing more and more worried about Reno's antics, and the proposal still stands; I need you to find out what's on his mind."

Rude nodded, knowing full well he was throwing himself in the deep end again. It was easy enough to first time agree to try and decipher the redhead, but now Rude knew him a little more, he saw he was a very deep and complex person. The odds of him actually figuring out his strange behavior were literally billions to one.

"I'm concerned that his attention will stray on this mission, leaving him vulnerable to attack by any enemies that have found their way into the Academy." Tseng continued. "It's your job to at least ensure this doesn't happen."

"Yes, sir…" Rude agreed, but he was unable to keep the uncertainty out of his voice. Tseng either didn't pick up on it, or chose to ignore it, because it became obvious that he had nothing more to say. His raven-haired superior picked up his phone and dailled a number, presumably the Academy.

"I have two Turks that are willing to help you out…" Tseng said officially down the line. "I'll send them up now." With a satisfied nod, he put down the phone and turned to Rude. "You've got the go ahead. Go and find Reno, and he'll take you both over there."

"Okay…" At that, Rude dittoed Reno's actions and left the office in search of his troubled partner.

* * *

"We're walkin'"

Rude stared at his smaller partner. Having not found him in his office, he had began a search for him around the building, before finding him in the second most obvious place he could have been in; by the entrance door.

"Why?" Rude asked. He watched at the redhead fidgeted in his uniform, trying to scratch his arm, but apparently failing. This was probably due to the bandage that was on his upper arm from his bullet injury.

"'Cause I feel like a walk." The redhead said brusquely, clearly frustrated with his itchy arm. "You ain't freakin' disabled, are ya?"

"I was only asking." Rude said, rather taken aback. Reno rubbed his eyes and shook his head amusedly.

"Yeah, sorry." he said vaguely. "I'm just gettin' myself worked up now…" His voice trailed off into nothingness as he gazed out of the glass entrance doors to the world outside. "Well… maybe a walk will help. It's not far."

Without saying another word, the slightly out-of-it redhead exited the building into the slightly dull outside world, with Rude in his tracks.

Although the journey was in complete silence, it didn't really feel awkward to Rude. Reno was clearly in a world of his own, staring up at the not very magnificent sky whilst his feet pounded the pavement. The bald Turk didn't feel like he had to say anything, up until their destination wasn't feeling so 'not far' to Rude.

"How much further?" he asked. Although his voice wasn't particularly sharp, Reno jumped out of his daydream, looking very disorientated.

"What? Oh… uh…" The redhead stopped walking for a moment and scanned his surroundings. "Oh… this way." he took a sudden sharp right, and Rude felt sure that they were going back on themselves. He was growing increasingly more uncomfortable at doing a mission that could go wrong so easily, with a man that could be distracted so easily. Rude pushed this thought to the back of his mind however, and soon enough, they approached a very large building, with just a huge Shin-Ra symbol above the doors. The whole building was gray, and looking very unattractive in Rude's opinion.

"Here we are." Reno said, with a small satisfied smile on his face. Apparently a simple feat such as finding a building gave him an immense amount of pride. "Ain't a very pretty lookin' building', is it? I expected it to be at least a little bit nice than our H.Q."

Rude looked over at his partner, who was staring up at the building in disgust. "You mean you've never been here before?"

"Nah…" Reno walked over to the entrance and held the door open for Rude. "Never had the pleasure."

"How did you find it then?"

"Lucky guess…" Reno shrugged as he walked over to the reception. "And years of trying to find my way around this shit-hole they call a city."

"Can I help you, sir?" The woman behind the reception looked at Reno curiously, who jumped slightly at the interuption.

"Oh, yeah… we're lookin' for… class 4B. Led by Mr. Azar, I think…" Reno said, trying to wrack his brains. Rude wasn't sure why the redhead didn't just take the piece of paper he'd printed with him.

"Can I ask what your business is?" the woman asked mechanically, looking down at some papers on her desk.

"We're the big boys, honey." Reno said slickly, dropping his ID down in front of her. She looked from the card, back up to Reno, flushing slightly. "I believe you're the one's that wanted us here in the first place."

"O-of course." she said, looking nervous. Rude found it quite amazing how even an organization so closely linked with Shin-Ra could fear the presence of a qualified Turk. "Just go down that corridor-" she pointed to her left, "… it's the fourth door on the right."

"Thank you…" Reno said in a sing-song voice, before proceeding in following the woman's instructions. When they got to the fourth door, Reno rapped his bony knuckles on the wood and opened it.

Inside the room was a class of no more than 10, and an older man, which Rude assumed was Mr. Azar. All of them just stared at the two new arrivals, making Rude feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Well, this is some greeting." Reno said sardonically, looking over at Mr. Azar. "You're the… teacher I assume?"

"Yes… I'm Greg Azar." he walked over to Reno and held his hand out. Reno shook it with vigor. "And you are?"

"Reno." the redhead replied, he looked back at Rude. "And this is Rude. We're from the headquarters; Tseng sent us up."

Rude looked at Mr. Azar, trying to sum him up by appearance alone. He was a short man, about a head shorter than Reno, and rather stout. His hair was greying and his eyes were small and watery.

"Ah… I did get wind we might be getting some Turks over here." Mr. Azar said, looking decidedly more happy now that he knew who his guests were. "Excellent, and right on time. My students are just about ready for some real-life tests."

"Well, I certainly ain't lowerin' the barriers for the rookies." Reno said, scanning the room. "These slackers need a taste of true Turk blood."

Rude noticed that although everyone in the room was staring at them, one person in particular caught his eye. This also seemed to be the person whom had earned Reno's gaze to rest on them. Rude assumed from the icy hair and deep eyes that it was Elena; the long-fabled girl that Reno was trying so hard to save. She looked so very shocked to see them, almost to the point of looking slightly nauseous. She coughed loudly, resulting in everybody turning back to look at her. She blushed heavily, her eyes watering slightly.

"Sorry…" she muttered. Reno shook his head, but didn't say a word.

"So then, Rude…" the redhead smirked and looked at his partner. "What'd'ya say we get to know our future comrades?"

Rude nodded, and expected Reno to head straight over to Elena. Much to his surprise however, he started talking to people at the front of the class, leaving Elena sitting alone, the only person in the class not saying a word. In Rude's opinion she looked very out of place. As casually as he could, he wandered over to her and leaned down to speak to her.

"You don't have to talk to me just because I'm sitting alone." Elena muttered. She had her head down and her pale hair hid her face. "I just like to keep myself to myself."

"No, you don't." Rude said in a hushed tone. The fact that he had picked up on her lie amused him slightly. He knew the difference between someone thrown into an awkward situation, and a downright loner. "I know who you are."

Elena finally looked up, her deep eyes meeting Rude's. "You do?"

"Yeah… I wouldn't look so anxious either. You'll be fine." Rude tried to comfort this worried looking girl, but apparently unsuccessfully.

"As a Turk?" Elena laughed lightly. "I don't doubt it. It's not that I'm worried about…"

Her eyes travelled over to where Reno was talking people in the front still, and although he grinned, his eyes, as always, showed a tired and tortured soul. All of a sudden, Rude reached a whole new level of empathy with this girl he hardly knew. She wanted to help her friend, and was trying to do so the only way she knew how. And that meant she had to succeed, despite the fact that she was clearly not comfortable with what she was doing.

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_**A/N: **And there you go, another update! That last little bit took me so long to word properly, and I actually find it quite sad :( From here on, the stories gonna be a lot deeper and sadder probably, so suck up Reno's sense of humor while you can. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter; drop me a review and let me know if you liked it! Oh yeah, I was feeling generous today and turned my anonymous review back on, any reviewers are welcome to leave me comments, as long as you ain't flamers!!!_


	13. Tammy

_Authors note: I'm so sorry for the long wait, but I've been really, really unwell. For the same reason, updating might be slow for a while. Thanks so much to everyone that reads, and don't forget to drop me a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter :)_**

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**

**Chapter 13 - Tammy**

"Where the hell've ya been learnin' how to do this?" Reno's shocked voice rang out through the firing range. He stood behind an anonymous student with dark brown hair and leaned forward, moving her arms as to make her aim correctly.

"This is the first actual practice we've had!" the girl said defensively, lowering her arms and turning around to scowl at Reno. "We've only been here for two weeks!"

"Yeah, whatever. You gonna shoot the floor now? I know you were two feet off the target before, but that's just ridiculous." The girl looked angry for a moment, before turning back around and heightening her gun again, aiming carefully. "Little to the left…" Reno muttered.

The girl gritted her teeth, but smirked a little. Completely ignoring Reno's advice, she pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet shot into the wall, slightly to the right of the target.

"Told ya." Reno said smugly. He took the gun off the girl and aimed it vaguely in the direction of the target. Within seconds of taking the gun, a bullet was shot right through the centre of the target. "That's how it's done."

"Yeah well, you've probably already done this training." the girl said bitterly, walking away from him.

"Hmph, yeah, right." Reno chuckled to himself at this comment, then turned to the rest of the class. "Anyone else wanna go today?"

It was inevitable that Elena would step forwards, that determined look still on her face. She looked Reno dead in the eyes, but he avoided her gaze. In fact, it was odd; the redhead had been avoiding the young girl all day, even though she was the reason he was there. When they had first arrived he had immediately begun talking to some of the students at the front of the classroom, whilst only awarding Elena with a passing glance.

"Okay then, sweetheart." Reno nodded and stepped backwards, handing Elena the gun. She looked up at him stubbornly for a moment, but his returned look was one of emptiness. Looking slightly downhearted, she took the gun, closed one eye, and took aim. Surprisingly, the bullet ran smoothly through the target, only a fraction of an inch away from the middle. "Very good." Reno said, clapping his hands, slightly disbelievingly. "You must get that off your sister."

Elena didn't say a word. She just looked up at Reno, and handed the gun back to him; not a trace of emotion in her eyes. For some reason, Rude had a feeling that the statement that had just escaped from Reno's mouth had not been very much appreciated by Elena, from the fire that filled her eyes.

Reno seemed to pick up on this as well, as he stared after Elena for a moment, before shaking the feeling off and handing the gun to the next student attempting to fire. This time, it was a tall young male; slightly taller than Reno, with dark brown hair. Rude however, focused his attention more on Elena. She was standing out of the way of everyone else, quite close to where Rude was standing, and was staring at the floor, fidgeting with the sleeves of her red uniform. He couldn't see her face, but he felt quite sure that there were tears running down her cheeks.

"You're a good shot." Rude said, moving closer to her. She looked up distractedly and smiled.

"Thanks." she mumbled. Her eyes were slightly moist, but she didn't look too distressed, thankfully. Rude's first impression that Elena didn't really want to be a Turk was becoming more and more engraved in his mind. "Not that good though. Not as good as Reno."

"Don't compare yourself to a fully qualified Turk." Rude told her in a stern but kind voice, "That way you'll never know your own standards."

"True." Elena's eyes seemed to light up slightly at this comment. "I suppose I'll improve."

Rude was satisfied that Elena was feeling at least slightly more confident now, as she was looking up and watching Reno and the rest of the students practice shooting. Rude couldn't help but wonder though; how good exactly did Elena want to be? She had seemed very disappointed that she wasn't as successful in her attempt at the firing range as Reno, and the whole reason she was here was so she could help the redhead. Did that mean she wanted to exceed him? He would never admit it to the poor girl, but Rude though the odds that happening were very slim. He could understand why she seemed to feel so helpless, but deep down her heart was set on this goal. In Rude's opinion, from the little he had seen, she was doing well, especially compared to the others in the group.

Student after student attempted to hit the target at the end of the firing range, none of them matching Reno's bulls-eye. Nobody even managed to achieve the shot as accurately as Elena did. This seemed to cheer the young blond up if nothing else. Eventually, it seemed everybody in the group had attempted the shot at least once.

"Well…" Reno sighed and looked across the students. Some of them looked confident, others embarrassed. "There's definitely room for improvement. You-" he pointed at Elena. "Ya did good. Well done."

A couple of students, including the first girl that had attempted and failed, shot Elena a scathing look. The latter ignored them, however, and smiled at Reno, inclining her head slightly.

"But you all need to spend a lot of time down here if you hope you make anything of yaselves." The redhead carried on. "In a life or death situation, ya can't afford to miss a shot."

He waited for a moment, as though expecting some sort of response. The students didn't dignify him with one, just stared slightly blankly at him.

"Right… I wanna see how ya'll are with ya fists." Reno looked across at Rude, who nodded. "This is your department, partner."

"Right…" Rude stepped forwards. He would never admit it, but he felt slightly nervous. He didn't like all the attention focused on him. Reno seemed to pick up on this however; either that or he had something else running through his mysterious mind, because he intervened before Rude could do anything.

"Actually, I wanna take one first." he stepped in front of Rude, determination etched on his face for some reason. He looked directly at the first girl that had tried shooting, who merely glared at him. "You." he pointed at her. "What's ya name? I think we should all get to know each other."

"Tammy." she muttered, her dark eyes avoiding his.

"Ya got a last name?"

The girl named Tammy seemed to hesitate slightly, panic filling her eyes rapidly. "H-Hay-ling… Hayling."

"Right." Reno rolled his eyes and smiled slightly, before moving onto to ask the others their names, presumably so that Tammy didn't get suspicious as to why Reno had only asked her. Rude knew exactly what Reno suspected, as the stuttered name 'Hayling' sounded a little bit too coincidentally like a name he'd heard once before. What Rude did find odd though was that Reno asked Elena her name. She seemed just as taken aback as Rude was, but she uttered her name anyway.

"Right… now we're all a little more familiar, let's get down to it." Reno smirked and looked back at Tammy. "You're with me."

"Why me?" she asked defensively.

"Because ya so crap at shooting, I wanna see if you actually have _any _talents." Reno said impatiently. Tammy looked very angry, but stepped towards the redhead, obviously accepting his proposal.

"So I get to fight you instead of _him_?" Tammy looked from Rude to Reno and smirked. Rude couldn't help but be slightly amused, as this girl, just like many before her, was drastically underestimating Reno. "Bring it."

The redhead shook his head and led the class and Rude over somewhere to the right, were there was an area obviously designated to sparring. The floor was covered in soft mats, and there were railings around the outside. On the side nearest the wall, there were several rows of seats. The 8 or 9 other students that weren't sparring at that moment went as sat down, followed by Rude, who didn't take his eyes off Reno and Tammy.

"We'll get right back to basics, shall we?" Reno said, pulling his jacket off and throwing it somewhere to his left. He shrugged his shoulders to make his shirt more comfortable and looked across at Tammy, who laughed.

"Just because you're a fully qualified Turk and I'm not, it doesn't mean I'm completely stupid. I've studied martial arts since I was young, so I know at least basic fighting techniques." Tammy boasted.

"Sure, whatever." Reno said, his smirk growing ever wider. "Let's go then."

Before the girl had a chance to prepare herself, Reno lurched forwards on lightening fast reflexes and shot his fist down below her defensive arms and into her stomach. She stumbled backwards, clearly winded.

"You left an open spot." Reno said simply, standing at ease. Tammy breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. "C'mon, it's your turn." he stood with his arms held loosely by his side, apparently completely defenceless. Tammy narrowed her eyes and darted towards the redhead, her fist rushing towards him. Reno raised his left arm, quickly taking the blow with his bony forearm, and swung his leg around, catching Tammy behind her ankles, causing her to fall to the floor. She jumped to her feet, scowling, and tried again. This time her fist was aimed lower, but Reno grabbed her wrist, twist her around, and with surprising strength, threw her over his shoulder. Rude saw her wince with pain; the floor might be padded with mats, but he knew from experience it wasn't very comfortable when pushed onto it with so much force.

Tammy stood up again, this time with some difficulty, growling under her breath. Reno couldn't hide his satisfaction. Rude thought she looked close to tears of humiliation, but he couldn't pity her. There was something about the girl he didn't like.

"I'm going to get changed. I've had enough now." Tammy said to nobody in particular, running her hand through the hair. She walked away heavily, not saying another word.

"Heh… I just couldn't resist winding her up." Reno said amusedly. He walked over to the seats where everybody else was and smiled. "And _that_ is why you don't get too cocky with a fully qualified Turk. They're all yours, Rude."


	14. Mako

_Authors note: Yay, I managed to update before Christmas. Quite an information packed chapter as well. Not really much to say about this chapter, except enjoy it, and please leave me a review! Tis the season :)_

_Enjoy, and Happy Christmas everybody! Much love!_

**

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Chapter 14**

One by one the students attempted to fight Rude, and the bald Turk had to admit, it was quite an interesting and rewarding experience. All of these young people had certain quirks, even if they weren't all particularly steady on their feet. Some were fast, some were strong, and some had a very unique fighting style that Rude hadn't seen ever before. It was surprising; Rude knew he was strong, but he expected not to find it that easy against people that were only a few months behind him. However, he managed to get most of the students to the floor without much effort on his part.

One student caught Rude's eye particularly though. He was fairly small and un-extraordinary looking, but he had an unnatural speed about him. His black hair fell over his face each time he avoided one of Rude's punches, and he glared up at him with those glittering eyes that were exactly the same shade of aquamarine that Reno's were, except the odd speckle of brown that flecked the iris. He had no emotion about his features, and on more than one occasion the odds of winning the fight seemed very heavy on the mysterious strangers side. Eventually however, Rude managed to land a punch that knocked him back and threw him off balance.

"Not bad, not bad." Reno said loudly, talking more to himself than anyone else. "You-" he pointed at the youth Rude had just knocked down and motioned him to approach. The stranger did so, his expression unchanging. "What's ya name?"

"Jack." he replied, not looking at the redhead. "Jack Williams."

"Well, Jack," Reno stood up lazily from the bleachers and walked over. "Good job, you've definitely got skill with your fists."

"Thank you, sir." Jack said humbly, bowing his head slightly.

"Eh?" Reno looked confused momentarily. "Oh! Yeah, sorry, I'm not used to people callin' me 'sir'. Well ya welcome."

The redhead glanced over all of the potential recruits with scrutiny. Most the them were a little worse for wear, but they all looked fairly happy. All except Jack Williams, whom had the exact same morbid expression as Elena had done when Reno and Rude had first entered the classroom. He was certainly an odd character, with an air of sadness about him. Rude didn't have an immediate dislike for him like he had done with Tammy, but he knew there was definitely something suspicious about him. Reno obviously knew as well; Jack and Tammy had been the only people he asked their names. There was a suspicion forming in his complex mind.

"Righty then… I'm a little less unimpressed now. Ya don't make bad fist fighters. But I think you're all a bit battered and bruised now, so we'll stop for now." Reno stretched his arms out, causing his shoulders to crack. "Ya can go back to your classroom or whatever if ya want, or ya can stay here and do a little more practisin' with each other. I ain't teachin' ya no more though today, so just get on with it."

The quiet mutter of excited chatter gradually filled the room as the students milled off in their own little groups. The only person to actually leave the training area was Jack, who left without another word. A few students stayed in the sparring area, and a few wandered over to the firing range. Reno and Rude walked slowly over to the sidelines.

"What'd'ya think then?" Reno asked him, looking up. Rude was slightly taken aback, but answered him anyway.

"Tammy… and Jack."

"Yeah? You only say that 'cause their the only two I talked to." Reno said, laughing. Rude smirked. "And here I am, supposedly teachin' ya the way of the Turks. Ah well… go on then rookie, gimme a bit more info."

The two of them leaned against a railing and looked out across the busy students. Rude breathed deeply, and gave his assumed suspicion of the two.

"Tammy is too bitter, even for a teenager-" Rude began. This first comment caused Reno to smirk slightly. "And she stuttered on her second name. 'Hayling' sounds a hell of a lot too much like 'Hayler' to be a coincidence."

"Very good…" Reno nodded. "Plus, she's terrible at everything. But that's just my own little observation there. And as for Jack-"

"Too quiet, too civil." Rude finished for him, but Reno laughed.

"I'm afraid if I was gonna sum you up in four words, those'd be 'em, my friend. No, what bothers me is his eyes."

"His eyes?" Rude puzzled over this. He noticed that Jack's eyes were an odd color, but then so were Reno's.

"Yep. Nobody has eyes that color." The redhead explained, his own curious eyes flicking back and forth across the room. "Do you not know what sends someone's eyes that color?"

"…mako?" Rude suggested. He had been told about the effects of mako, but it had been a very long time ago.

"Got it in one. That dude's been usin' mako. Which means, he must have _somethin'_ to do with this heist." Reno looked satisfied with his explanation, but it only put a lot of doubt in Rude's mind.

"Why does that mean he has something to with the heist?" the bald Turk asked. He was wondering whether or not to bring up Reno's eye color being incredibly similar to Jack's.

"'Cause… since the start of this heist, mako's been really carefully monitored. People enterin' the Academy are tested for mako, and if they test positive, they're held for questioning. The only way to get hold of mako now is to steal it. Plus… that mako must've gotten into his system sometime after he entered the Academy." For some reason, as the redhead spoke, his voice became more and more bitter, until he was practically spitting the words. Something was bothering him.

"Right…" That explanation made a little more sense to Rude, except one thing… "but, Reno? Your eyes are the same color as Jack's. I don't understand that."

"No, they ain't." Reno snapped, suddenly looking very quickly in the opposite direction. "His eyes were brown. That's why ya could see bits of brown in 'em. Mine, however, are not brown. They're bluish-green. Ya hear of blue-ish green eyes, but not blue-ish brown."

"Right… I see your point." Rude nodded, and the redhead looked over at Rude again, his eyes curiously dark. The bald Turk did not completely buy that, but it was quite clearly Reno was getting touchy about it, so he didn't want to push it. "So, you think he's a bad guy?"

"Nah…" He looked distant for a moment. "I just got this feelin'. We need to keep a tab on him though. He could help us anyway."

"And Tammy?"

"Heh… she's a whole different story. She is a problem, because she's obviously related to this Ria Hayler person we're s'posed to be findin'. We gotta just play it by ear." Silence fell over the two Turks as they watched the class. Somebody had managed to hit a girl in the face and cause a nosebleed, and now the rest of them were making a fuss over it. Reno just ignored it. "Can't wait to rub this in Carrie's face… this weren't such a waste of time as she thought it was."

At those words, the doors to the training area opened forcefully, and Rude felt momentarily sure that it was Jack returning. Unexpectedly however, Tammy stalked into the room, her head held high and her dark eyes glaring straight at Reno. The redhead did not looked phased by her return.

"Oi, Tammy!" he called. "Here." He pointed to his feet much like the way one might when talking to a dog, much to Tammy's dislike. She wasn't stupid however, and knew that Reno had a lot of authority over her, and did as she was told.

"What?" she said scathingly.

"See that blonde girl over there?" he pointed over at Elena, who was currently standing on her own at the firing range, concentrating hard. "Tell her I wanna talk to her."

"Yes, _sir._" Tammy said, her eyes narrowing. she walked over in Elena's direction, and Rude couldn't help but notice how intently he was staring at her. "Hey, _Elena_!" Tammy flicked her brown her over her shoulder and smiled bitterly at the blonde. The latter just lowered her weapon and stared. "Mr. Superiority over there wants to see you."

"Okay." Elena said simply. She set her gun down and approached the two Turks with slight caution. "Hi…" she looked from Rude to Reno, a slightly worried expression on her face.

"What's your name?" Reno asked loudly, his eyes still fixed on Tammy, who was now using the firing range herself. What a strange question to ask someone he was so well acquainted to, Rude thought. But then, as he looked over at Tammy himself, he figured out why he'd asked. If any of the students figured out that Reno and Elena knew each other, it would probably get Elena in more hot water. Nobody could make the connection between them.

"Um… Elena…" she replied unsurely. "Tammy said you wanted something."

"Good…" the redhead instantly lowered his voice. "Sorry about that. I can't let anyone think I know you… especially not her." he motioned over to Tammy.

"Why not?" Elena asked.

"Don't ask too many questions. That's the first rule of the Turks." Reno said, his tone suddenly changing. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Training to be a Turk." Elena the first hint of bitterness in her tone that Rude had heard. "What else could I be doing?"

"Ya got yaself in deep here, ain't ya?" Reno rested a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't want ya to get involved."

"Yeah?" Elena looked at the hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Well, I'm involved. And I want to know why you're here."

"Yeah, whatever." the redhead shrugged off the harsh tone effortlessly. "Now, I wanted to ask ya something. What'd'ya know 'bout Jack Williams?"

"Not a whole lot. He was here before me." Elena explained, slightly put out by the redheads sudden uncaring attitude.

"Understandably. Have his eyes always been that color?"

"Umm… yeah…" Elena frowned at that seeming randomness of this question, but then seemed to have a second thought. "Oh, I did notice actually… they used to be just bright blue, but then they started getting little brown bits in them."

"Ah-hah!" Reno exclaimed. "That proves it then. Thanks 'Laney. You can go now."

"O-okay, then." Elena looked at Rude with an expression demanding an explanation, but the bald Turk just shrugged. "You're welcome."

Rude understood what the redhead was trying to find out from that little interrogation, and it seemed that he had succeeded. Whoever this Jack person was, his exposure to mako had been before he had joined the Academy, and the substance had been wearing off since then. This only strengthened Reno's suspicions.

What Rude didn't understand though, was why Reno couldn't tell Elena why he didn't want anyone to make a connection between the two of them. Rude assumed that he trusted Elena, otherwise why would he be trying to help her? But still, the redhead seemed to be talking to her like she was a complete stranger, and Elena wasn't impressed with that. What was going on in the redhead's mind?

"I can't wait until things are a bit more normal…" Reno sighed suddenly, fixated on Elena's retreating form. "I hate having to pretty much tell her to shut her mouth… even if it was in a more polite way."

"Why couldn't you have just told her?" Rude asked. It was odd how many times recently the redhead had made comments that made him convinced he was reading his mind.

"I don't want her to know why we're here." Reno was still staring over at his blonde friend, but his voice became more distant and sad.

"Why?"

"Because…" the redhead seemed to snap out of his daydream and turned and looked up at Rude. "… if she knows, the minute something goes wrong, she'll blame herself, and pretty much tear her own heart out."


	15. Abandoned

_**Author's note: **Umm okay, so I have no excuse here. It's taken me about 3 years to update, which is shocking I know. But I was determined to finish. So I spent several days rereading the whole lot and figuring out where it was going. It wasn't easy trust me. Anywho, I'm aware that it's been a hugely long time since I updated this, so it may be beneficial to reread it as well. Well, I hope you all enjoy, and please review._

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**Chapter 15**

It didn't take long for the students to get bored of fighting each other, and before long everybody had left the room, except Reno, Rude and Elena. Elena had spent the last ten minutes trying to get information out of Reno but he was brushing her off like a piece of dust. Tammy had been the last of the others to leave, messing around in the corner for quite an unnatural amount of time. Rude could tell she was hanging around to try and overhear any pieces of information from the Turks. She had about as much luck as Elena, however, and left, shooting them a scathing look as she did so.

"Well thank God for that." Reno muttered exhaustedly. He got to his feet and stretched, cracking his joints.

"Reno, please tell me what's going on." Elena whined for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Shut it, Elena." Reno snapped, but not particularly harshly. "You shouldn't be hangin' 'round us too much anyway."

"Why?" She asked, looking slightly hurt.

"Because people will start to talk if you spend all ya time around the big boys." He replied, smirking slightly.

"Shut up, Reno." was the response he got. His jaw dropped slightly. "This isn't high school. Besides, I'm here for different reasons than everyone else here and you know it. I feel that I have a right to-"

All of a sudden Reno clapped his hand over Elena's mouth, eyes wide, looking beyond the blond girl, into the hall way. Rude saw it too, a familiar figure with dark hair, that swept away as soon as Reno looked over. The redhead took his hand off Elena's mouth, looking livid.

"You talk way too much." He hissed.

"She didn't hear-"

"She heard enough. She knows somethin's goin' on." Reno narrowed his eyes slightly. "In fact-" Reno made to leave the room hastily, but Rude was, for once, too quick for him. He grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. "What the-"

"You're not running off again without telling me what you're thinking." Rude said, shocking even himself with his abrupt outburst. "You're making it difficult for me, and the others, to help you."

Reno sighed and pulled his wrist free from Rude's grasp. He eyed Elena, then looked back at Rude in a slightly desperate way.

"Leave." Rude said to Elena. She looked slightly taken-aback, but she stalked out of the room in defeat.

"Fine." Reno huffed as Elena left the room. "What I'm _thinkin' _is she already knows somethin' anyway. Why would she be so bent on sticking around unless she knew she was likely to overhear somethin'?"

"Good point." Rude kicked himself mentally for not noticing this himself. "So what you're saying-"

"Is our next lead is her." Reno finished his sentence for him.

* * *

"You know this could easily be big trouble." Carrie stated, as she walked through the building with Reno and Rude. She had seen them return to the headquarters and met them at the entrance. Reno had wasted no time in explaining how wrong she had been.

"Blah, blah, blah..." Reno drawled. He stopped walking and looked straight into Carrie's eyes. "Seriously, you're so determined to get me off this lead, why is that?"

"I'm not." Carrie shrugged. "I just don't want to see any students get brought into this. Or should I say any _more _students."

Rude saw Reno's temple twitch, a sure sign, he had learned already, that he was starting to lose his temper. He was waiting for an outburst from the redhead, but it never came. He merely shook his head and continued walking, heading straight for his office. Rude followed him cautiously.

"Hey-" Carrie shouted, following them hurriedly.

"First thing's first." Reno stormed into his office and jumped straight into his chair and logged onto the computer. "I need to check out this girl's info."

"Reno, listen to me for a moment." Carrie said loudly and seriously, causing Reno to look up from his computer. He sighed.

"What?"

"We both know you haven't been honest to anybody here." Carrie crossed her arms. "You made out that you wanted to go to the Academy to check in on Elena, but that's not the real reason at all, is it?"

Reno didn't say anything. He just stared at Carrie with a blank expression on his face, and then looked back down at his computer. Rude could see he had already got the page of Tammy Hayling up. He thought back to when he had looked up Elena's Academy information, and wondered vaguely why he hadn't noticed the similarity between Tammy Hayling's and Ria Hayler's names to begin with.

Carrie ignored the fact that Reno wasn't responding to her and carried on talking. "In fact, when I came to you to tell you that Elena had joined the Academy you didn't seem all that worried about it. For someone that has spent months trying to get people to stay out of these missions because you didn't want them to get hurt, that seems odd."

Reno still didn't respond, but carried on tapping away on his keyboard like a maniac. Eventually, probably getting sick of the awkward silence in the room, he slammed his hand down on the keyboard and sighed.

"This is getting borin'." He said, pulling an odd expression somewhere between annoyance and amusement.

"Then tell us the truth." Rude found himself piping up. He could definitely see Carrie's point, and he was getting more than a little annoyed at the redheads secrecy.

"I guess I fucked up." Reno said simply. "I'm more interested in the mission than Elena at the moment, I'm trying to get her uninvolved, but no amount of moping is gonna change the fact that she is. She has the perfect right to enrol in the Shinra Academy, but if I smother her it's not going to make things better. Besides, she won't get through the Academy anyway."

"How do you know?" Carrie asked.

"Because I just know. Trust me." It was obvious that Reno had had enough of this conversation. Carrie just sighed and left his office. Rude was sure that she wasn't buying any of that story, but then neither was he. There was no reason that Elena wouldn't make it through the Academy, as she was one of the better students there. He was just about to open his mouth to speak, but Reno beat him to it. "She's safe, partner." He said scratching his arm. Rude wasn't sure if the redhead was trying to reassure himself more than Rude. "Why don't nobody 'round here trust a word I say?"

"Maybe you should try being honest more often." Rude suggested.

Reno just paused and looked at him, a puzzled expression on his face. "Ha, maybe you're right there, partner." He said finally. He turned his computer off and stood up. "Nothing of use on there."

"Her story checks out?" Rude asked.

"Yep. But I got an address. So we'll have to go and talk to her ourselves. If we talk to her outside of the Academy there's less chance of anyone else trying to get involved... especially Elena." he added quickly

* * *

Rude had a feeling of dread in his stomach as he and his partner walked up the path to what they had discovered to be Tammy's house. It might have had something to do with the last time he and Reno paid anyone a visit, but he couldn't help feeling like something bad was about to happen.

As he had predicted, nobody answered to Reno's sharp knocking on the door. The redhead shrugged his shoulders, and once again pulled out a paperclip from his pocket, beginning to pick the lock. Before long, the door clicked open and Reno had a smug look of satisfaction on his face.

It was dark inside the house, and there was an odd feeling of abandonment in the air. Rude could hear his own heavy breathing as he watched Reno look carefully around the kitchen they had entered. He got the feeling the redhead was starting to get the same worried feeling Rude had. The two of them walked through into what turned out to be the living room, only to be greeted by the same dark emptiness. Reno sighed and flicked the light switch, bathing the room in light. It took Rude's eyes a moment to adjust, but he could see that his previous feeling of this house being abandoned was correct. The furniture was covered in white sheets, and there were cobwebs hanging from the ceiling.

"Well, shit..." The redhead announced, looking around the room in awe.

"There's nobody here." Rude said bluntly.

"Got it in one, partner." Reno began lifting the sheets off the furniture. "Which means I've either got the total wrong house... or they saw this coming. Which tells me one thing..."

"They've got something to be guilty about..." Rude finished, smirking slightly. He began helping his partner remove the white sheets until they came across a large chest of drawers. Reno immediately began rifling through the drawers, carelessly throwing things aside. Rude stepped in to help, looking until he saw something that caught his eye.

"Here..." Rude said, handing a piece of paper to Reno. It was a simple bank statement, but it was the name at the top that interested him

"Ria Hayler..." Reno muttered. Then a grin found its way to his face. "Boom! We got her..."

"That doesn't really prove anything we don't know." Rude stated, reluctant to annoy the redhead now he was excited about something.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong my bald friend." He smiled, pocketing the piece of paper. "The Academy info said Tammy lived here. She evidentally don't anymore. But Ria Hayler has lived here as well, which means it's pretty damn likely that Tammy was lying, albeit badly, about her name. Which means... she is most definitely hiding something. So all we have to do is corner Tammy at the Academy and show her what we found at her 'house'."

"I see your point. It's a good lead." Rude replied nodding. He eyed the staircase that was through an open door in the corner.

"Hmm, yeah you're right." Reno walked to the stairs as though reading the bald Turk's mind. "We ought to check out upstairs just in case."

The redhead began to walk up the stairs with Rude at his heel. Every step he took caused the stairs to creak, and Rude still couldn't shake his uneasy feeling. Upstairs was just as dark and dismal as downstairs had been, and there were three rooms in front of them. One door was open, and this clearly led to the bathroom. Reno carefully opened one of the other doors, with one hand in his pocket in which Rude knew there was a gun. Clearly the redhead was sharing his feeling of unease. Inside the room, as predicted, was dark. Someone about the scene in front of him very much shocked Rude however. He looked over at Reno, who smirked then walked over to the bed in room, grabbing hold of the shoulder of a figure that was lying on it. The person snapped their head around and looked at them with frightened dark eyes.

"Well, well..." Reno laughed sinisterly. "If it isn't the lovely Miss Hayler."


End file.
